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Robert 
Emmet 

Trelanrs PatrioMtlarfyr 



B political ^rac^ec\2 
in 5 Bets 

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* ^ * 3ttliu$ Cletze Cletzelim. ^^ « « 



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R. AUERBACH, 

Electric Power t^^^^ov Union Printek 

126 Essex St., New York. 

1903. 



Entered according to the Act of Congress 
in the year J902 

By JULIUS TIETZE TIETZELIEVE 

In the Office of the 

Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 



ROBERT Emmet 



IRELAND'S PATRIOT MARTYR. 



A POLITICAL TRAGEDY IN 5 ACTS 



-BY- 



JULIUS TIETZE TIETZELIEVE 






^^^'^''"^■'.K?^'^^?^'; 



R. AUERBACH, 

Electric Power Union Printer, 

126 Essex St., New York. 

1 9 O 2. 



I CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Recf iv«d 

JAN 29 1903 

Copyright Entry 

CLASS S )0<c. No 

COPY 8,/ 






DRAflATIS PER50NAE. 



The Earl of Hardwicke, Commander of the Castle. 
CoRroRAL Hartley, of the Arsenal and Prison. 
Major Sandys 
Major Serves 

Parliament ariens. 



I- Castleguards and Commissioners. 



Agitators. 



1 

I 

y Accompeices w ith Emmet. 

I 

J 



Henry G rattan > 

Daniel O'Connell S 

Clancy O'Brien ) 

Donovan O'Hara \ 

Dennis Redmond 

Timothy Russel 

EiTZRoY McCarthy 

CoNLY McCabe 

Gilhuly O'Sheil 

Herlihy O'Sullivan 

Robert Emmet, An I'^xile and an Insurgent Leader. 

Lord Norbury, A Judge. 

Baronet Plunket, Crown's Attorney. 

John Philpot Curran, A Barrister • Pather of Sarah. 

First Rioter. 
'' Sec'v^np'Rioieh. 
,' '^/GourV Clerk. '•*-'■• 

A Jury Foreman. 

.•.A<^RtOT-ACT P-ROe,LA'IMER., ct c 
; .A'HXi'GMANi ? • » . * • t r 

Several Rioters. 

McViCKAR ) r> 1 .• r Tp . J c 1 

> Relatives of Emmet and Sarah. 
McGregor 5 

tL\RRiET Sarsfield, in league with the insurgents. 

Sarah Curran, betrothed to Emmet. 

Tv;elve Jurors, Castleguards, Rioters, Yeomenry, Search - 
Officers, Irish Citizens, Prison- Attendants, Sisters of-mercy etc., etc- 

SCENE. — Dublin-Ireland. 



j(^p96— 00734 1> 



ACT L 

SCENE I. — Kingstoivn Dublin . Before the Parlia- 
ment building. The doors siving open and fro fn the 
lit interior issue O' Hara and O' Brien resisting ejec- 
tion followed by Harriet., Redmond and Russel 
pacifying them. 

Harriet. O'Hara! 

O'Hara. Ha! libellers! 

Redm. Here I 

O'Brien. ' What ? give us gaff ? 

Then derogate us ? 
Harriet. Nay O'Brien — 

Rus, Mum now ! — 

O'Hara. Abash us 

Like that? 
Harriet. Subside, do. 

Redm. Ay, curtail. 

O'Brien, Denunciate 

In those ill- terms 1 
Rus. a truce to that and leave oft. 

O'Hara. Oh these defilers ! 
Rus. Quiet ! I said. 

O'Hara. Rancid. 

Detractors 1 
Harriet. Abridge a bit. 

O'Brien. Those henchmen that 

They be ! 
Redm. Won't you cease ? 

O'Brien. Ransackers 

O'Hara. Marauders ! 

O'Brien. We'll back 

And set our cuspids of resentment up 

Their scullion arrogance, let Parliament 



Bear as she does her mausoleum, and sliow 
Who's who in Paddyland. 

[Excit ic'ith O'Hara into the building, the 
rest remaining, ) 

Redm. a new incendiary. 

The fuse now, bye and bye the blade. Of Irish 

And English political animosity 

There's embers' surplus. 
Harriet. What had occured with O'lhien 

May it be informed me and what withal 

Since at delinquency, I may not account, 

WithO'Hara? 
Rus. Why were you not thereabout? 

When tlie melee set a pace ? 
Harriet I would not mope on in(|uiry 

Had I been fellow patriot Russel, for I was not. 

Let me tell you : 

I was sauntering languidly along the gallery 

Once Ireland's belonging, of that Parliament, 

Glancing o'er seats undelegated, when presto. 

The hum of an altercation in one of the lobbies 

Like the low-loud whiz of a forests' leaves, attraction. 

That way impelled me. I down and headforemost, 

And there a confabbing, pitch in a fracas 

O'Hara and O'Brien descried. 
Rus. Redmond crayon 

Harriet the canvass. She, contingent in 

The Society of United Irishmen 

Should be given recipe, for that reciprocate 

Communion common. 
Redm. This 'twas. The insult 

Of the Earl of Hai'dwicke, Kilmainham commissioner 

Presently at the Parharrent, in possession 

Of an insurrectionary circular 

Disseminated by O'Brien and O'llara. Myself 

As well as Russel warned them repeatedly 

To cease distributing them publicly 

But they ! 



— D — 

They at the pace of recklessness outstrut 
That of admonishment. For General Hardwicke 
Attended by a staff constabiilaiy 
Apprized of O'Hara's and O'Brien's, with 
A Squirrel's whap, out of the Commission Office 
With feinting gestures to vacate the edifice 
Demanded of the twain ; which ordinance 
O'Hara and O'Brien challenging, an argument 
Wherein contumely and the brogue were rasped 
With the dignity of hardware, obscene no comparison, 
And a long since suppressed glossary, (billingsgaie 
Being agate, this cambric to satin. ) The procedure 
Into a fisticuft culminating, the combatants 
Apart were sundered, O'Hara and O'Brien 
Being ousted off the premisses. 'Twas at 
This juncture you then joined us I believe 
Miss Harriet. 
Harrikt. What an episode ! Anxiety 

In me a massacre foreaugurs i-trewn 
With the piked and shillelaghed. Oh I ever since 
The Union Bill's enactment, by expedients 
Extortionate, for its passage's consummate 
Whose clauses fabricated peremptory 
AnnuUment and the Parliament's disqualifying. 
Annexing us as subjects, — ever since then 
All Irishmen like when the Theban dragon 
By Jason slain, scarce-sown incisors were 
By sprouting warriors given the doorknob. Oh my heart 
For Ireland pit- pats heavy ! Everywhere 
About the capitol resentment permeates 
With anger and expostulates even the very 
Atmosphere. And animosity 

(Ever goes that odium whether stillted or clogg'd 
Crested or ciuru.ssed or cavalier-fashioned) 
Between the English and the Irish tosses 
I'he tilted-for gauntlet, For whenever Celt 
And Sax each other size, counter on the avenue 
The incident marks uninscribed a slab. 
Oh, good, good God will it ever terminate ? 



— 6 — 

Will Ireland never be free at all at all ? 
Rus. Well, well, \ve'll see about that. But again 

Why these sore plaints ? Let me convince you rather 

Though we have forfeit Parliament should not 

The trademark grief indeni us, Scotchmen having 

Their cud to maw o'er, ay I know for a bene vox populi 

And under Wallacian howitzers, whilst ours 

Was by the chink of sterling huckstered oft 

With mortmain grip and with the slogan of 

" Hibernia delenda est ut Carthago ! " 

Now is that right I say ? 

Many a race has like its Parliament 

Skulk'd with the phoenix. And 'tis not that our Parliament 

Has foundered should make us con Jermy 

But the misstewarding misanchoring pilot 

Schould make a dragnetted man redrown himself. 

A minute. Who's ever forgotten try as he may 

With what perfidious and recreant jimmies 

The British peers out of our nation's household 

Oar Parliament prodded bodily, how thug-like 

Disguised, on tip-toe, at negro midnight, sneakily 

With crook and drill fumbled the bureaus of 

Our nationality, stealthily disintegrating 

All valuables, ransacking us destitute 

Unto nudity ! Try how you may. forget it. 

Who can ? who may ? Let go of that for one 

I will not. Contemporaneous Irishmen 

No quicker will forget this Parliament hold-up 

Than have forgotten our lineage. 

When .Adrian the Pope ordered the Second 

Henry the kirg to budget himself with Ireland 

Tiie, at that time, dekinged Deriiiot McMurrough, 

Limping to Henry elicited re-ekinging 

After which there arose, as arises Jrom a rapid 

A vortex volcano, to erect the genius 

Of wild-haired hatred nefarity's Fitzgislebert 

Sobriquetted by history Strongbow. This, as well 

And the massacres of the Ironsides of Cromwell's 

Hosts sanguinary whose enprimrosed crimson 



Did with the pellicle of the battle's smoke 
Make nephews and caused Irish bivouacs. 
Oh, we'll remember the vale and mount of it, 
At least I Timothy Russel will keep count ot it. 

Kkdm. And English historians assay to slander 

To our chagrin the history ot Ireland 
As insignificant. By God, if it is'n't 
The nonpareil, then 'tis charmedly disgusting 
A struggling, a subjecting, struggles and subjects 
Ingloriously glorious a record 
That ever human weakness, and that ever 
Inhuman wickedness and inhumanity 
Superhuman in the extreme, disgraced with honor 
The whiteness of a sheet. Oh by God it is 
A history to set the fluid a-seething 
That like the octopus in midsea's middepth 
After the aqueous demise leaves frothy a will 
That disharpoons Sindbad, — a history 
For the Omnipotent to protest against 
The sentences, the lines, that make the English 
Story of the history of Ireland 
A story hissed, a hissed story of a history ! 

Rus. Agra 1 Redmond a solid grenadiering 

To an omnious one with no brushwood bundle eithe 

But bullock's anthers ! Yet still I muse there is 

A something deeper in this rabid race riot 

Than the historian's mere prejudice it seems ' 

To me at least. The feudal system I think 

That incentive gives balustrade. For all 

The laws brehonic based were on the tanist 

By gavelkind, the canfinny through the ballot 

Succeeding held the land in common tilla 

Under amicable conditions. Then the land 

Was districted in feofs, feofs in carucates 

For the agriculturist's hoe and rake ^ then too 

There was a judgment coLrt on Tara's hill 

Where in relation to the infangthef 

Breech of estate were lopped of by the occasion 

Of the particular sacha according to 



— 8~ 

'I'he Sanchus Mor. For a tort had by a mulct 
Been given condonement and the arraigned paroled 
I'riscribed by bail or by a pledge of frank 
As may have been the case. But why do 1 
Oate tiiis in reference? merely to demonstrate 
That the tanist system superseded was 
By the (^gold medals to the economists !) the feudal 
Whose gist is heriditary primogeniture 
Through the eldest, — the axle the spokes rotate by. 
Ninety-Eight exemplifies that. Yet 'twas lured 
To the Caudine Forks and passed off for a yoke 
( )f a Samnite Hanover to make peers bawl, so 
Like our tragedians : — " Justitia ruat coeaim I " 
Harriet. Yes, fellows in the canvass Redmond and Russel. 

That then's that Ireland ? She that was that Ireland 
For seven centuries ior ignorant Europe 
Her university. And her resided 
Aengus the hagiographer and Tighernach 
The annalist. Alas ! here sang Carolan 
• And Ossian the sightless Irish bards. 
Columbkill here the monastery built 
( )f Clentouchen ; the prior Congal too 
With Ciaran and Adamnan the abbots 
Established Bangor Irish Catholic Convent 
Here teemed with missionaries the Emerald Isle 
W.io evangelized entire Europe and here* 
St. Patrick preached the Christians daily gospel. 
My haire on fire take, so flames my girl's mind. 
The scholar Erigenu, the astrologer 
Dungal, the evanghelizer Ferghal 
Contemporaneously flourished here. Alas ! — 
A past, a ne'er-e'er tffaceable past* 
Let me not open more pages lest ther drip 
The bloody tear and tear-fraught blood upon you 
You 're drenched sutificing. Dampen hope? nay not that 

tempering 
Hope in their spite ay spiting e'en with hope. 
Is n't hope immortal ? is'nt life immortal ? is'nt 
By-gone glory withal? A hearse to the oppressor. 



— 9 — 

Then pummel England, jostle all thou choosest 
The staggering it is, enlist the sympathtzers. 
Thy freeboot tyranny but coaches the more 
Into Hibernians an amor patriae. 
Thy highwayman and wayside untanned boot 
The heel on our gullet the ankle on our chest 
The liberators has tripped. Erin's masthead-flag 
At half-mast waves but not entirely lowered. 
And I of Patrick Sarsfield's stock, I say 
Like the heroic Mucius who 't is said 
Singed to a stump his hand continued mum, 
We're subjugated but we're unsubdued. 
Invidious henchmen overwhelmed drop 
At the cheers of martyrs on the scaffold's plattform ! 
Redm. O'Hara and O'Brien return, adjourn we 

This curb confab, nor let excitement goad 
The passer-by's curio. — 

( The doors swing open and 0^ Hara with O'Brien issue 
remonstratifigly. ) 

Rus. They're puffed ; there must have been high sea. 

Redm. Begorrah boys, what's adrift ? 

(3'Hara. Bejabers and begorrah — 

O'Brien. Scab- beset hybrid mongrels I baptize 'em. 

O'Hara. Unprincipled by characterless I dub them. 

O'Brien. Why fellows of the cause out of them 
A bonfire with shaveling enough 
For holocaust any pantrymaid could rear. 

Redm. A gang of a stt of a band of blacklegs — 

O'Brien. Never flourished, 

Rus. As these "my lord " political gamblers — 

O'Brien. Correct. 

O'Hara. To the Inflnitismal absolute. Gamblers, lobbyists, 
hood winkers, they'll stand you pat for any jackpot, the 
scheemers and apostates that they are, bad 'scesstothem! 

O'Brien. The lopsided renegadoes ! 

Rus. Apropos of hand-gaff and bunco-pat in political poker, 

why Portsmouth gets a back number and jury packing 
a ticket-of-leave. 



—10— 



O'Hara. Straight said. P^or in two localities alone demogogic 
larceny might stand comparing with this Parliament 
grab. 

Redm. And pray where's that tract of land by water surrounded? 

O'Hara. You're boomeranging it askance. 

Redm. How's that? 

O'Hara. Natal Bay and Botany-Bay, — water by land surrounded, 

Redm. I wasn't catchy 1 see, but England is 

For she was hahdy robbing us a Parliament 
And we obtusely handled letting her. 

O'Brien. So Poland lies prostrate, prone on her knees 
The Cossack fronting. 

Rus. So like by thug assailed 

She from the sandbag's drub of Turkey's inflict. 
Half-dead Montenegro. 

O'Hara. And you intercept the wheelbarrow, why you're dumped 

Redm. It's no use say what you will an agitator is marked a 

target crescent or tricolor. 

Rus. They go a-burrowing when the hedgehog dirks 

Redm. I imagine both of you were trying to distribute those 

circulars to procrastinated Parliamentarians who as yet 
haven't gone to London to join the new Irish-English 
Parliament. • 

O'Brien, By the leger we were and right royal at it, 

Redm. But you knew Hardwicke was around didn't you ? One 

would prognosticate as much. 

O'Brien, Devil a taste, but we didn't know he was around just 
then. Prior to yours and Russel's showing up we got a 
scoop of the tepid. And of course, as may be well 
imagined, after some retorts and backbite on both sides 
we sailed into one another landing in blows, for then 
the hops turned a brewing in earnest, they had us by 
the coatcollars the constables did, 

O'Hara. Oh we applied ourselves that of all the echoes 
Of terms exchanged resentment still redounds. 

Redm. What you should was to rouse the latently indignant 

Unstored in the deluded, Harriet 
What was the intelligence you had to offer 
Prior to the melee for now I ween you referred 



—11— 

To Robert Emmet. 
Harriet. I had, for I've received 

Furtive communication to the effect 

Of purposes intact and persons too 

More intimate with the exile. 
Redm. Where is the tryst? 

Harriet. Glasnevins. 
Rus. Is it possible an amnesty 

Has been already proclaimed to the expatriate ? 
Harriet. There has. For so let me read o'er for you 

As we proceed along the contents of 

A missive my possession, as you'll see 

His advent's certainty. 
{^Exeunt all except O' Hara and O' Brie?/.) 

O'Hara Will you along? 

( )'Brien. a mind I had to take me to the quay, but well. 

To heavy-lashed vigilance dornock's up-drawn 

For the distributive hand. 
OTIara. No bigger organ 

Punctures its ins but under the gloat I stagger 

I);sfooted. 
O'Brien. Will you go meet Robert Emmet ? 

O'Hara. I'll see him at Clenachton's. 
( )'Brien. Together then. 

[Exeinit.) 

SCENE II. — Before Glasiievin Cemetery. 
E?iter Harriet. 

Harriet. By full a trot outdistanced, I'm ahead 

At the Glasnevin gate. Welcome him hoixe. 
Alas for the home and alas for the welcome 1 
What sore ordeals Ireland thou'rt progeny 1 
Pass surging meditations, pa?s — 
What nation's that whose brow is draped in crape 
Whose chest sinks fast as you receding moonset 
At midheaven'stide? Hibernia, 'tis thyself! 
I see thy sacred shores by viking pirated 



—12— 

Thy homes profaned, thy temples execrated 

The colonnade of tiiy glory splintered 

Whilst o'er thy malls like gaunt hyenas gorge 

The glut of ravage thy inhabitants. 

Forth trom thy gasping lips despair's crude wail 

Like a lone Arab in anguish's oratory 

Lost in the orphanage of wilderness 

Oasis strikes none. Free tyranny's here calif. 

And civil Patagons with feints caressing 

With that uncompromising a by no means 

Of the Horatii and Curiaiii 

The dolmen of thy pride make nihil of. 

Nor that alone. But prone on ire's divan 

The malagressor viith offence parturient 

Gives birth to massacre whose initiation 

Into the coterie of the gibetted 

Nefarity acquires. But be muffled 

Thoughts of this brand. A shadow, then a step — 

The figure and the feature of the exile 

Up Chapel's Road a-sauntering and seeking^ 

About for us. Wish he head this way. For lo, — 

In traveller's suit he nears Glasnevins, on 

The lapel of his coat the trefoil shamrock 

[Enter Robert Emmet. ^ 

Emmet. Excuse a traveller, an orphan to suburbs, just 

Off Libbey's wharf, whereabout may one find Glasnevins 
Cemetery ? 

Harriet. Hereabout 's the locality. 

EMMEr. I'm obligation for instruction. Pass 
The jaunting-car up Chape 's Road ? 

Harriet. No down lad. 

Emmet. From boot to wheel there's travesty. 

One's limb become convinced of ancestry 

When distance 's an age. Good evening lass for all that. 

Harriet, (aside) 'T is he! the same! Oh you untutored instincts, 
Half-bred to recogniton fosterchild, 
vShall the fate of weeds be his and fall in the through 
And that through me. By an in -road I'll accost him. 



—13- 



Emmet. 
Harriet 



Lad whoever it be that ye seek may I ask ? 
The roof of a patriot if any there be. 

And there be 

God grant in Ireland a many a one. I recognize ye, 
I vow. 
Emmet (aside) What? and my mask drawn oft ? 
Harriet. Beyond 

Thy previous traits what thou hast been thou wast 
And that thou 'rt Robert Emmet and no other — 
Toss up the cap suddenness, tlie surmise is fair-haired. 
I knew ye for that, how should 1 else but know you. 
Is it Harriet Sarsfield then ? 

Herself. 

I can't help being affected. 
At this reunion, for I'm he, I'm Emmet. 
Back in the long run. Accept the heart's salute 
(Jf a cause's devotee. Reunions tear's 
Drop bitter when re-meet acquaintances. 
Erin ! swooning evermore — 

About 
Her staggering figure. It is, it is on Irish 
Soil, you're back. 

She's expiring. — 

Bear off, she's 
Resuscitating ; behold, she lives ! 

To die ? . 
Alas ! wherfe be I ? really in Dublin ? is it 
In Dublin truly myself am ? Where's Chapel's Road ? 
Over yonder's Chapel's Road, Robert. 

Oh God ! 
Ireland ! Oh me my country ! thyself! thyself! 
Small wonder the sight of her overcomes you. 
She's not the same — Oh she — she — 

The lump 

That's lodged in the chest unbreathe, as would 
A man, as would an Irishman, respite 
Expatriation for reunion. Harriet 
Of Sarsheld's family re-welcomes you. 
Emmet. Changed scenes ! Can I believe when I behold 



Emmet. 

Harriet. 

Emmet. 

Harrirt. 

Emmet. 

Harriet. 



Emmet. 
Harriet. 



KM MET. 

Harriet. 
Emmet. 



Harriet. 
Emmet. 

Harriet. 

Emmet. 

Harriet. 



—14— 

What I believed beholding? are her streets 

The same? the houses the identic? (Intuition 

Betrays me!) flickers still the wick of Irish 

Nationality? oh, blaze these emblers ? I land 

An exile on the shore of Erin, I find 

Her sprouting vineyards wilted, on her homesteads 

Emaciate herds a pasturing, the woodland 

Untreed, and from her suburb hillside ham ets 

Persecution's din I hear. On Tara's wall 

The harp of Caroian hangs mute — oh bruised 

And bleeding, Erin's genius greets her exile 1 iveejisi 

Harriet, Och I ochone ! ochone ! 

Emmet. Dreary, dreary 

Is her situation. It must be quite late I ween. 

Harriet. Rather. By the way was it not up a year or so 
You abode in Paris ? 

Emmet. The thereabout of a twevemonth. 

Harriet. What are the Uespard folks about? 

Emmet. I hardly know. 

Harriet. I perceive you'rs wearied. 

Emmet. Wearied and worried. 

?tARRiET. The after-effects of a journey. Listen, where 
Glasnevin's no depot to luggage about, 
Intend you sojourning ? 

Emmet. I concluded abode 

At Clenachton's ; my all of my luggage lag 

As yet at Libbey's ; at an opportune opportunity 

It will be transmitted me. So this is Glasnevin ? 

What a change has come o'er it ? the tryst my letter 

.Bore, mention bears reminiscience sad. Here 

I acted pallbearer at the interment of 

Tone, and Fitzgerald all of which appears 

As 't were yesterday. Oh 't is, 't is 

To pince the hide for agony in slices, 

Contemplating that. Demised of the universe ! 

I muse on ye! Decayed and chill ye nap 

In beds siliceous, on sandy pillows 'neath sheets 

Of sedge ! Envermind and enmoulded remains, 

Mar.nuring through the daisies' petals, the gibbet 



— 15— 

Existence 's lips having locked up. Through the gate 

I spy your final homesteads and I mourn 

At reminiscience's threshold. O Fitzgerald ! 

And Tone, Oh ! gone unreturnably ! nay this— ^ 

This, this affectation's stifling me — release-- 

Immunity — for a feeling — hark ! it pleads in me 

To end the term of Erin's servitupe. 

Harriet. Lad, bridle yet the prance of inspiration 

For it doth pant and froth about enthusiasm 
To slick o'rhapsody- 

E.MMET. To slam off prison bolts. 

Penitentiaries' casements unlattiee 
From death-sentenced cells emancipate her, 
Elevate her on a pilaster of suffrage 
That humanity might view how far her figure 
Inhumanity disfigured. 

Harriet. Robert Emmet ! 

Emmei". Forth, forth of tyranny's ignoble tunnel 

With freemen's pennon streaming heaven-high 
I'd lead my countrymen, face the adversary 
Upon the field- advance upon his legion 
And counter-combat his rank ; rushing fight 
With brand in one hand in the other a sabre 
Till victory be Erin's; then return 
Marching triumphant from the field of battle 
W^ith drum and cymbal to the music of 
Erin-go-bragh ! 

Harriet. Several of the patriots have come 

To welcome you. There's Redmond, Russel, O'Sullivan, 
O' Shell, McCabe, McCorthy. 

Emmet. Where ? 

Harriet. Over there- 

i^Exeiint) 
SCENE Ill. — Chapers Road. 

{^Eiiter Redmond^ Russel, O' Sullivan, O' Shell , McCabc 

a7id Ale Car thy. ) 
Redni. From Chapel's Road to Glasncvins, tumnli 



—10 



The earthen sigh vouching a chest underneath 
One sees abundant. 

Rus. Dead easy -dozing patriots, 

Their architecture 's shattered. 
What of their life's pilaster, what of soffit 
Remained, they yet left us to emulate them 
The trillith'd hopeful chisel, a cromlech to set us 
To vindication. 

Redm. How sad the moon looks down 

On God's Acres ! how thrillingly chirps the trush 
A heart-breaking elegy bordering on madness ! 
And look too at the whirling sand ! Observe 
The features of heaven are draped in ashy ire 
From out its iris of dusk shooting stars gleam 
A distant rumbling in subdued oratory 
Marks thunder's protege. 

Rus. Persons approach. 

It looks it's Robert Emmet with Harriet Sarsfield. 

Redm, Else who might they be ? 

Rus. Very like my consideration. 

Redm, Are you posted soundly ? 

Rus. Barely, best elicit it. 

Redm. Hist there ! uncloak ! 

Rus. They're of a race unvanquished. 

Redm. Or Gaels. Hist there ! the shiboleth ! 

Rus. We'd best get about to them. 

They'll never hear us unless we shout to them. 

{^Exeunt. ) 

SCENE IV. Glasnevin as in scene 2. 
{Enter Emmet and Harriet.) 

Emmet. W^ho may they have been who hissed us? 
Give me a cue, Miss Sarsfield, for 1 fret 
We're encumbered. 

Harriet. Smut o'anxiety for distrust. 

Nor manifest apprehension. They are those 
On your home-advent, at a slick distance, 
On my commending, have themselves retired, 



■17- 



Me, in the mean appointing spokesman, hither 
To greet, approach you. 

Emmet. Fraternity's fire rekindles 

Five years' benumbed estrangement. I rejoice 
That not unlike delinquents or absconders 
I set foot on the shore of the emerald isle 
Unawaited. A few devoted Irish yet 
Their patronage vouch a brother ostracized 
To retrieve and clasp the hand severed so long 
By the sharp blade of exile. 

Harriet. They salute ! 

{Enter Redmond carrying a floral hoof . Russel^ 0^ Sul- 
livan, O'Shiel, McCabe, McCarthy.^ 

All. Exile of Erin ! welcome home ! 

Emmet. Associates — 

Fraternally re -met! {they embrace 

Redm. Our Rory ! 

R No, our O'Neill ! 

^^'kdm. In recognition's token bear acceptance 

What poor allegiance could in profferance ofter 
This our humble hoof. 

Emmet. My heart weeps loudly, 

Redm. Not ours. In ours 's imbedded the slogan 

" Erin-raa-chree," ensheath'd too the shibboleth 
" Hibernia mavourneen." 

Emmet. God bless you boys. 

Back again amongst my former. In time appropriate 

A cord shall rig us to our country's hawzer 

As shall unstanchioned not be, the barge of which 

Shall tug the anchor for the caulking. Lads 

In general and particular I ween 

We best not tarry tardy about, since 't may be 

Suspicion's spirit haunts tlie unordinary. 

We'll combined to Ballycorn, out of \^ here 

At Harriet Sarsfield's residence we'll convene 

A fortright hence. gation for the hoof. 

Tiny little smilax and holly ! Shall we traverse 

Mountjoy or Fitzwilliam Square? 



—18 — 

Persecution's nurse shows up a'trifle cheerily. 
'•For invalid Erin," says she, " there's convalescence." 
All. Welcome, a land's right and a home. 

{^Exeunt. ) 

ACT IL 

SCENE I. Ballycor7i. Dublin. Ifiterior of a garret. 
A lamp in full blaze on the table around which 
Emmet^ Sedmond^ Russel^ O' Sullivan^ O' Shell, 
McCabe and McCarthy are discovered in couversation. 

Rfdm. Isolated and uninterrupted 

'I'he younger part of an entire week 
With the enactment of the government 
Provisional, after the castle's capture 
Which we're to seize giving Hardwicke the trip, 
Older has grown. We had in the beginning 
Each other pledged solidarity win or lose 
By the proposed revolt and here this eve 
Settle for the venture. Robert Emmet, we 
Have acquiesced that you our leader be. 
Therefore, according to the constitution 
Of our society, rise and be initiated 
Prescribed for the incumbent obligatorily, 

Emmet. prises and raises his hand) In the awful presence of God ! 
I do voluntarily declare that I will preserve in endeavor- 
ing to form a brotherhood of affection among Irishmen 
of every religious persuasion and thatl will also persevere 
in our endeavor to obtain a republic peaceably, if pos- 
sible, forcibly if necessary. And 1 do further hereunto 
declare that neither hope fear, guerdon nor penalty 
shall ever induce me directly or indirectly to inform on 
or give evidence against any member of this or similar 
societies for any actor expression ot theirs done or made 
collectively or individually in or out of this society in 
pursuance of the spirit of the obligation. So help me 
God! 

Redm. Is everybody replete with a provisional ? 



— 19 



Kus. 
Rkdm. 

Rus. 

Redm. 

Emmet 



O'SULLIV 



Emmet. 
O'Sljlliv. 

Emmet. 

O'SULLIV, 

Emmet. 

O'SULLIV, 

Emmet. 

O'SULLIV, 

Emmet. 

O'SULLIV. 



Emmet. 



O'SULLIV 

Emmet. 



Everybody. 
Have O'Sullivan, O'Sheil, McCabe McCarthy, 
Got theirs? 

They have. 

I yield the chair to our leader. 
Accepted. — Comrade, lor the final rig-up — 
Be it to his credit, let the member apprized about 
What's to be perpetrated state if he choose 
All possible information available 
All plans have been submitted ratified, 
Is there anybody desiring supplementary 
Intelligence, have to his scrap-cook's item 
Addition-giving clipping given ? 

I was absent once 
So Pd like to find out from our spokesman, what 
The insurrection in the city proper 
Omitting all auxiliaries, out of the suburbs. 
To bide with us, comprises ? 

Three points, O'Suliivan. 
I remind aie 't was quoted on. Hope you aint vexed 
Should a few more queries tug re iteration. 
On the contrary, not at all, nof at all. 
What is the first ? 

Points of attack. 

The second ? 
That, — points of check. 

And the third ? 

Lines of defence 
Ultimately. 

Once known I'm at ease. Also where 
Is the main assembly to be, on time probated, 
Heretofore beforehand, on the arrival of 
Dwyer's Wicklowites ? 

Near Kilmainham Bridewell 
In Marshalsea Lane our depot as has been 
Through the pro and the con of the debate on that score 
Decision reached. 

The which is evident. 
Who else ? 



20 



O'Sheil. May I interrogate, where's to be 

Their lodging for the tmie being ? 

Emmet. Where they assemble 

Of course. 

O'Sheil. For those outside of our centre attacks 

Or outside of the others ? 

Emmet. Presumeably of the others. 

The gathering you see is to be in three. The Post Office 

The Castle and the Barracks. Thirty thousand 

Stanchest of the stalwart pik'd and blunderbuss'd 

Men of the invincible O'Uwyer I expect 

About there in thousand troupes. 

From Munster deputation of Cork and Kerry 

And from the bailiwick of Gonnaught 

Galway und Leitrim's mechanic I anticipate. 

To the subleaders of which written I have 

Of junction with us, with whose advent come 

Mayo and Roscommon. The whole brigade 

As detailed to participants particulars 

Knowing the when, the where, the how in solid phalanx 

Myself taking the lead a Roman rocket 

Giving from the bridge the signal, the whole of the line, 

Raising flag and limb and armor and forward march. 

McCabe. Will you let me chip in a say ? 

Emmet. With the charity 

Due to the alm's-box farthing, in she goes 
And note her clinking. Well ? 

McCabe All of the members 

Shall in their computations make 't unscrupulous 
An item, that the whole affair, in other words, 
The aftair as a whole is to rotate about 
The castle and the castle solely, concentrate 
Their energy thereabout, the whose parapets, 
Gun-cutton in shale-oil soaked together with the portcullis 
The rupture give ; then past the overcome guards 
The bayley-wall proper from the underneath 
Make ingress. In the all of the interim 
W^e must see we land not tardy at the inception 
As at the finale out of the bushwack'd background 






—21 — 

Which Simultaneously that way tackled 

Will from defeat that much eliminate 

To saffron up expectancy, for captured 

The castle should and ought by. This is what 

I meant m tossing my word in. 
Emmet. And well-toss'd, sir, 

It is. — Redmond and Russel there, one minute — 

{they converse) 
McCarthy. McCabe d'yez ken Whippleforce ? 
McCabe. The toll-gatherer? 

McCarthy. Humph ! he's sorra agra one of Lucifer's brats. 

I fret lest he frustrate endeavor, in the event 

Of carrying grenades o'er the bridge. 
McCabe. Arrah will he? 

Whippleforce's linen coatcollar will be tailored 

A bit the tighter for him then he'll skulk. 
O'SULMV. Now what do you think of that pals? 

The newly-installed street commissary Dartmoor 

Wont let us parade across P itzwilliam Square. 
( )'SiiEiL. I'll tell you what I think of that pal. 

Daj tmoor' ^ every bone in Dartmoor's body 

To the infirmary for general 

Repairs, a shipment gets. 
O'SuLLiv^. 'T will tonic him. 

McCarty. Bartley of the Eighty-Ninth Foot, communicating 

With General Hardwicke of the rising's progress 

Will to discomfit us, out of the arsenal 

Send the yeomanry. 
McCabe. Grit to grit, let him embark! 

The nearest lampost Bartley's anatomy 

Shall with disgrace be graced and midst hosannas 

Follow the pendulum. For though hampered 

The first that creep in our road the pike's argument 

Plump into the entrails, to make th excrement out 

New auspices. 
O'SuLLiv. At all hazards, at all 

The uncrook'd straightness of a spirit-level. 

And by the by Majors Sandys and Severs — 
McCabe. What about them ? 



—22— 



O'Sheil The salawags ! the spalpeens ! 

O'SuLLiv. ■ They 're fury itself. 

O'Sheil. Oh, their distillate will be decanted for them. 

Pluguglies of that ilk, d'yez know their meed ? 
The bayonet's flat on their pc^ntifical domes 
The gray-finned sharks. 

McCabe. The very thing they are. 

Redm. The hurdle and the tether stand no better 

Than the demoralizer's lunatic antics, the show 
Wild Comanches would emulate. 

Rus. Redocie 

My boy, 's what counts in a revolution. 

Emmet. The castle then 

Is the cue to the situation. Besides 
Is there a grudge we bear — retaliation ! 
Is there abuse we stood for — vindication ! 
July the twenty-third shall be the day 
July the twenty-third shall be the night 
And of that day shall be a night for tyranny 
And of that night a day for freemen. For 
Long have the squares of Dublin not been sprinkled 
Long, long indeed ; but it wouldn't be with the opaque, 
'T wixt pink and rosy the dawn -stain of the morn's sun, 
Blood-red. 

The red of blood, ay carmine human ink. 
It will be either thcir's or ours, but likely 
Theirs with ours. For me, my blood I donate 
]NIo matter the consequence, at any rate, {bell rings.) 
The bell is tugged below. 

The Parliamentarians 
O'Connell and Grattan surely 't is. They said 
They'd visit us and we've overlook'd the time, 
They were to be to have an interview 
With me and you. 

Rus. It oozed out of my senses. I'll meet them. 

Redm. No, go not down, let themselves up-usher. 

Emmet. You do well there. 

Redm. Will you abide the statesmen ? 

Emmet. On the contrary, I right there follow gypsy. 



Redm. 
Emmet, 



Rus. 
Redm. 



23 



Kus. I infer the meeting adjourned. 

Lmmet. Ratified. 

Now since we need the statesmen not in the skirmish 
But only as a prop, let Redmond and Russel 
To talk it o'er with them remain. For us 
Embarkment for good and final. Swear to it 
Comrads ! 

Ai.L. Our fealty ! 

Emmet. Yet again ! 

All. 'T is pledged! 

Emmet. And let the following be confirmed 

Both, ere the general launching out, as well 

As in the oft and far unto, to these 

Tenets adherence. Let as much be known to us 

That the general fist in the proclivity of 

The tyrant's chin, go with the proturberance 

Worthy of the riotous, no sledgehammer handled 

But with the thud therets. This too as go 

Our legal formulae be it known to all : — 

We Ireland's Irishmen of Irish birth 

Hoping there to die and be dead Irishmen 

Challenge the awkward despot to the arena 

Of decent manhood. Cast off the sitting pose 

And take to limb. All of you know the date 

July the twenty-third. Primarily 

Of all's the Castle to be sack'd, possessed ; 

Thence we will see what's to be next committed. 

Both, if you can induce as I hope I do 

Feel as you think you may the Irish statesmen 

O'Conneil and Grattan. A collective " we meet again !'' 

Singly the grave for all, the scaffold together, 

And ruffle no coatcollars though groggy 's the weather. 

{^Exeunt all except Redmond and Nnssel.) 

Redm. Emmet 's an apt leader, 

Rus. A born one not a thoroughbred. 

Redm, Even those who would be led do not begrudge him, 

Were they even disinclined. 
Rus. It makes me wonder 



—24 — 

Why he would not abide with us nor help 
The argumentation along. 

Rkdm. I suppose he's had 

With Parliamentarians the firkin topping, — 
None of them care to join where force 's urged, 

Rus. I see. Was it not yourself by the way, received 

Intelligence upon inquiry 
As the committee to consult O'Connell 
And Grattan ? What have they said in rejoinder ? 

Redm. They wrote they'd favor us audience, parley 

On any parliamentary topic bearing 
On the Union Bill, since it is men that make 
A movement great, the rather then that great men 
A movement makes, wrote me in correspondence — 
(Same tendency inducement influencing 
To conjoin counsel) Grattan. 

Rus. Jammed in the county 

The vote and voice goes against the manual 
And shoves the renegado by. 

Redm. But I hope on them. 

They have quite freely intimated they would 
Consult with us. abet us with their view. 

Rus. Tilt it with O'Connell, fence it will I with Grattan, 

Should we to hsts, not iddle be the rattan. 

Redm. A rhyme in time. — That much though let 's impress 

We are dirk-front and point-blank in to- to opposed 
To catholic emancipation or 
Reform parliamentary. Our desire 
Being their indorsement of the outbreak's incipiency 
Giving it so to speak influential sanction, subverting 
British aggrandizement out of usufruct 
And make of Ireland hitherto a dependency 
A franchized Irish republic, 

Rus. What a term 

Inspiring is republic I A "republic I" 
Contrasted with the term of disrespect 
" Monarchy !" Will we be capable 
In persuading Grattan in persuading 
O'Connell ? On the stairs there 're steps. We'll see 



25 



How the vaccine operates, — 

(Enter Grattan and O^ Conn^'JI .) 

Redm. Percussive 

I fret. 
Grattan. This here 's Danny O'Connell 1 

Redm. Pleased to learn 

Of Mister O'Connell. 
O'CoNN. And that there 's Harry Grattan ! 

Rus, Glad to know you and happy to meet you. 

Redm. Be seated. 

O'CoNN. Any odd seat will suit the nag. 
Redm. Kindly. 

O'CoNX. Grat, where is the frail duck ? 
Grattan. What frail duck? 

O'CoNN. Why dont yer know there's ponds for her to dabble. 
Grattan. Get out of that hilarity. 

Mister Redmond and Mister Russel we have come 

The posture occupied by the society 

And what '11 be consulted with us, made recipient 

The both of us desired as it was a council 

Directly threshold to the cause for which 

To find us out, 
O'Conn. Now with no hawing and hemming 

What's wanted. 
TxEDM. O'Connell, you're reputed cute-sighted, 

You about divine what's to go on the program — 
O'Conn. Crease the sheet right there, I do not know 

That a show 's in progress. 
Grattan. What's requested sanction 

In what particular phaze must we the lantern 
Carry and light the road, frankness and openness. 

(Redmond and 0''Connel whisper and retire to one corner, 
Russel and Grattan folloic the like and retire to the other 
corner.) 

O'Conn. Thuggin thu, I hav'n't the rickets nor 

The spavins of the stallion. Insurrection ? 
Are you long a fugitive from London Bedlam ? 

Redm. With that incogruity we would monumission 



—2a- 

As the bedlamite though O'Connel I'm none. 

Do not shake the head again for that means no. 

A chunk of a crust of bread, — but liberty! 
O'CoNN. Would n't you add some salt to it ? pooh pooh ! 
Grattan. No Russel, not that plant of gallic growth. 

There liberty like unto the tree of knowledge 

Also imparts of death. So may you know 

For so conciliation but supplant 

That of coercion as you have my sentiments. 

But to incite to riot — 
Rus. Only lysten, 

(^nly listen. Was n't there a reaction of 

The precipitate plebeans of Capitoline Rome 

When the senior Gracchi — 
Grattan. There was. 

Rus. Sided with the populace 

Whose lands sequestery brought on evictments, 

Trying their utmost's uttermost to repel 

The flagrant agrarian law. And was there not — 
Grattan. That's so. 
Rus. A Pilopenesian war. What Ireland 

Cannot in peace attain she certainly can 

By sword accomplish. 
(jRATTAN. (Jh, delusion false, — 

The reason's forgery ! No, Russel, this 

I had n't expect from you. Where does the road 

(God forgive me if I'm strenuous with you) 
Of freedom but across the scaftold lie ? 

Go on, go on, you talk babyish, Russel. 
O'CoNN. Is it to this home for the orthopaeds you refer ? 

What you want 's vanguard first the tassle carrying 
And fhe borne-along transparency ? but wither 

To what end, use, purpose, notion, object? 
Redm. And why — ■ 

And why — 
O'CoNN. Hold to 't as 't were a hup-pleisham ? 

And you'll do good, faix, you'll do foine indade 
If I may use the vernacular my Anniello. 
Redm. No epithet, no epigram. That ill- ease 



—27— 

That '11 foster the reprooving sting and hnd lodging 

In our conscience that we spill blood to retrieve 

The liberty bereaved us, will not e'en be 

The tithe of a crith in the comparison 

To that extent as the ducal landfleecers 

I'll tell you that much, — expectorate at leisure. 

Grattan. You're still a skiffy buoy, a skift'y buoy. 

Rus. Unbargeworthy or unnautical, which? 

Grattan. I mean 

A boy, lad, I mean not buoy. I regret 
You 're 's yet a shrub. 

Rus. Pray state delinquencies. 

Grattan. Undersized you barely overlook. 

Rus. For instance ? 

Grattan. The intricacy involved in the diplomacy 

Of international law touching a country's uprisal 
Itself under superior. 

Rus. The dictum goes 

England's difficulties are Ireland's opportunities. 
What we count 's on the accomplishments of feints 
That are being pushed by the first consvil of P'rance 
In bridging the ditch to serve us for a crossroad 
Horatius-hke in defence. 

Grattan. I repeat you are 

A boy as I said. 

Rus. But I am man enough 

That though a boy a manly act I'd do 
Than as a man a boyish one pursue. 

Redm. Just toinsniuate, with four fingers, O'Connell 

Slim of a fist expect. But, Oh, what justice 
England has given Ireland, Oh, what justice! 
The nabob has been truly gracious here; 
A door its trellis knows, a cub its matrix, 
The ingrown nail knows it o'ertight boot, 
We don't know when to cheer '• The Irish forever !" 
We do know, thank God, when we feel famished. 
We do know who has a bed to retire in 
We do know too who have no roof above them, 
And you know as well 's myself I hope. 



—28— 



O'CoNN. Get to gunwhale. 

Where are your soldiers? where your place of battle ? 

Redm. The daily Dubliner answers the bayonet 

The city's streets and avenues the battle-ground. 

O'CoNN. And forts and barracks ? 

Redm. What's the matter with the housetops ? 

O'CoNN. I have n't inspected them. 

Redm. Oh, don't you worry 

There are tiles that may be unshingled. 

O'CoNN. To a resorting 

01 force? I'll have to shake again my head again. 
Much as I may coincide in view of reform 
(You may cashier me for any other save catholic) 
Much as I can't help being Irish in the groin 
I very much coincide on that score, Redmond, 
A restoration, an opportune one, Redmond, 
Of Irirhmen's prerogatives. But what 
The say of yours counts on the riotous sentiment 
That all is mounted in the saddle's stirrup 
Why I can't exclaim I balk the steet but I, 
I in as much reiterate I enter none 
Nor any of the compact a rising would foster 
For the simple reason (since the reason's simple) 
Should it evolve in a sort of a flop in a way unlikely 
(Be 't far from my Avhish,) I should be held for treason. 
O'Connell would not bear this for all the Clives 
Since 't is a subject reckoned — 

Redm. For whom ? 

O'CoNN. For Dives. 

Grattan. Nay such an arm'd defiance 

Makes the full cleavage longer last than did 
The Limerick siege longer in area than all 
The giant causeway, that this lacerate land 
Needs agaric. 

Rus. Well then, how about consolidating 

With us ? 

Grattan. Let junction have a furlough. 

You sort of remind me of the Kerry bookbinder 
Who pageing a brochure did his stitchman enjoin 



^29— 

To mix no numbered folios up, no numbered ones; 

He thought, whatever'sin order might be disordered 

By readjustment, I am disinclined 

In junctions preference. 
Rus. Then I dont mind nor care 

That if we succeed and you stand aside of the revolt 

Prediction runs amuck or join or none join 

We're perforce adversaries. 
Grattan, I.est you get horn-mad 

I'll give you that on a tip. 
Redm, Just now dont you be 

Keoalcitrant a foal. 
( )'CoNNELL. Is Dan getting fractious? 

Rl\s. Grat you're obstreperous as far as commanding goes. 

( )'CoNNEl.L. Let's off Grat. 
Redm. You're both hounds dumbfounded 

If you desert us, 
O'CONNELL. Jackass whoever joined you? 

Reum. I challenge you to a debate. 

O'CoNNEi.L. I wont slander 

The platform with your presence. 
Redm- Apologizel 

Retract or — 
O'Connell. Or— well? 

Redm. Or — 

O'Connell. Or— what? 

Rednl (iet the deuce out of here 

Gkattan. God speed the United Irishmen, we're out with them. 
O'Connell. Out with them? they're out with us, we're not they. 
Redm Get the door ajar and out with them. 

O'Connell. Out with whom? 

Dont you ride the buck too fast — 
GrattXn. .^ Come down- stairs. 

Rus. Both you wili rue this. 

O'Connell. Both you are Bridewell eligibles. 

For who are with them that are out with them 

That we should regret? 
Grattan. An everlasting good-night. 

O'Connell. Have nothing in cammon. 



—30— 

Redmond. Get the both of you out 

Or I pummel the each of you. 
O'Co.NNELL. Who? you ^vill? 

Oh for a bat, a brick, a mallot — 
Redm. Try that 

For exercise ! 
(i'CoNNELL. Giddap there Jerry O'Dugal! 

(exchanges blows with Redmond) 
RussEE. Giversaway I informers I 

(iRATTAN. M'rattan on yez jackdaws ! 

{exchcnuies blows tvith Russel) 
Exeunt 



SCENE 2 

A law library in tlie residence of Currafi. 

Before the hearth reading Sarah. 

Sarah. Faint hearth from thy embers light I borrow. 

The lamp on the table has its minutes numbeied. 
And the library will be in gloom in a trice, 
Furnish me a beacon you checker-glowing ashes 
As on a gale-wrack'd sea the sailor laddie 
Strains for the lighthouse's glimpses. I love to muse 
By the light of the hearth for hours. — How I have 
— Surrendered myself to Robert Emmet. In 

His breast my heart 'tis beating that 1 hear 
And in his features see n^.y own reflected. 
My own ! and dare they, can they be mine? what? 
Though daddy says, I may not, 1 who am 
Devoted by lar too o'erdevotediy 
As in the laurel cusp's tenacity 
Along the tendril. And I a neophyte 
In matters conjugal; do not even know 
What love is and still love ignorantly 
And to do what one knows not in acts amatory 
Recks one to the soul. Oh it is bitter-sweet 
Bitter-sweet. I fall again to niusing. 
"Child of my hopes for whom I hoped as a child 
Bobby-a-Roon, 



— ai— 



With wlioin I wandered in love's wayside wild 

Bobby-a-Rocn. 
Care-s of my youth whom I caressed as a youth 

Bobby-a-Roon, 
Besides whom I clung as Noami unto Ruth 

Bobby-a-Roon, 
Delight of my fancy whom in fancy I delighted 

Bobby-a Roon, 
What has my spirit's peace ever disquited 

B<jbby-a-Roon, 

{sounds of footsteps) 
Tramping on the staircase ! the racket has ruffled 
My pensive-fraught dozing into. Peace there's none 
For niy breast anywhere even in the short 
Eternity of night. 'Tis voices I discriminate 
Ay past all doubt; the worst can only have 
Overtaken me. Wide open goes tbe door, 
Let follow what may. 
Enter Curran in nightgoimi 
Hardtvicke, Bartley and search officers, 
Hardwickk. Let there be instituted 

A rigorous search from garret unto cellar 
Conjointly, out and out. Omit no receptacle 
But every bureau every till that passes 
Inspection, give it the jack of scrutiny 
Turn the flooring to account spare nothing 
Worthy of examination. 
Bakti.ky. I will do so. 

Hardwicke. For the same take these search candles. 
CuRRAX. Exercise care. 

As is an Englishman's house his castle, so is 
An Irishman's. I protest against the uncarpetting 
Of the floor 
?L\RirAicKE. Much-imposed counsellor, 

I'm sorry to disturb your tenure of living 
With the thudding step of inquiry but I — 
C u R R A N . What about ? 

Hardwicke. Bear orders from the court of search 



QO 

We've been informed with appurtaining to 
One known as Robert Emmet, who's alleged- 
With frequenting your domicile ; and adrift 
Much about the envtronments. Excuse me Curran 
Who's this young lass! 

Curran. What's that to do with the search ? 

Hardwicke. I merely ask to know. 

Curran. That's my last likeness 

Out of wedlock. 

Hardwicke. A daughter of yours ? 

Curran. Look at the edition. 

Hardwicke. I'am constraind to catechize her. Miss Curran. 
Can you tell us if Robert Emmet ever left 
Either out of haste or may be indifference ' ' 
•Some inflammatory leaflets hereabouts? 

Sarah. 1-eaftets? what are they ? mean you budlets too? 

Hardwicke. 1 do not mean anything of that variety. 

Sarah. I fail to comprehend you. How should 

Know of inflammatory leaflets ? I'am ignorant 
Of any such a person as Robert Emmet. 

Curran. (aside) Out of oath,, twas soundly parried. 

Hardwicke. It is said 

He corresponded with a Sarah Curran. 

Sarah. Oh "it is said I" but who said? who 's the it? 
I'am sure I dot know who Robert Emmet is 
I never heard of the gentleman Sir Earl, 
I swear to you I'am totally a stranger 
In the streets of accusation. And although 
The name may be familiar — (aside) oh my God 
If it should be aught to his detriment ! 

Bartley. Ha ! circulars I 

Hardwicke. Read them fully. 

Sarah. (aside) We're demolished. 

Curran. Make none of your wry sour mugs over there. 

Bartley. (reading) Irishmen of Leinster, Munster 

Ulster and Connaughtl For centades have your inimunities been 

monitored by British sentinels, an instance of which is the recent 

cockade-of-a-vigil, which the Union Bill so to speak acts perambu- 



—33— 

latory in yoiir regard. shmen ! will ye license yourselves to be 
bivouacked and reveilled by the tap of a mercenary sentry ? will ye 
be the medium of a patrol to a charlatanly unepauletted orderly ? 
Irishmen 1 smoulder yet in the furnace of your hopes the embers of 
independence? than stir its sparks into an incindiary of strile and 
conflagration ! burst your cages of subjugation ! tumble o'er its wall- 
ing of repression ! Oh crush them, dislodge them , 

Hardwicke. Cast up no more I scent the debris; let me liave'em 

Sarah (aside) Saints of the prevailing church ! stay him from harm! 

Hardwicke. What mutter you ? 

Rarah. I'm sighing. 

Hardwicke. 'Tis the loudest 

Of all the sighs I ever heard — For whom then? 
Sarah None in particular. 

Hardwicke. Evasion's incriminatory. 

There was an object hidden in the fold of that sigh, 
I heard the rustle, saw the sweep, but well. 
Why has that bookcloset so many scrapbooks? 
Scrape out the entrails of her. 
CuRRAN. Easy there. 

Hardwicke. With the permit of precedence — 

liARTLEY. Give me aid officers. 

Curran Be conscious of the handling, Irish laws 

Can he in versatile ways used. By Justitia 
Whatever you're bungling there at the bookshelves. 
.See here, you'll tear off "Cavanagh's Contracts", 
What are you now disposing of? "Kirk's Mortgages", 
Let go sir, "Shy re's Property !" What is that ? 
Have you got possession of ' 'Hopkinson's Evidence" ? 
Hardwicke. Why yes in one way and v\ hy no in another. 
Curran. And besides those private bill-notes — 
Hardwicke. I shall note them. 

Curran, j\Iusha the wills — 
Hardwicke. Itismywill. 

Curran. The sales? 

Hardwicke. There's a prize on them. 

Curran. Must I implore then? 

A lawyer's library subject to the ransacker ! 



34 



Give me an inventory of what you take 

Along with you for evidence. 
Hardwicke. We dont as a rule. 

CuRRAN. Ungentlemenlyj unrecorded, unheard-of — 
Hardwicke. There's 

Slight of occasion for any manifestoes 

Of irritability on your part in retorting. 

Remember I'm an officer of the law. 
Sarah. But my father is a lawyer with an office. 
CuRRAN. Ay have them know I'm of the Irish bar! 
Hardwicke. Short meant, I'd Have each Irish barrister 

Jjook of the bars. 
CuRRAN. For the which across the pate 

Would I let slip an avoirdupois bar! 
Hardwicke. What bodily? 
CURRAN. Well I strenuously condemn. 

My home's no resort for orphic mysteries, 

Nor is my daughter a Dionysia, 
Hardwicke. Oh we dont doubt that. What's on the harpsichord ? 
Sarah Outrageous unto impatience I Why dont you 

Unwall the room, disceiling us together ? 

Daddy they've taken Beethoven and Mendelsohn, 

Why dont they carry off the entire premises ? 

The harwsidchord contains naught rebellions. 

Save a few dormant unharmonics 
Hard\vicke. So ? 

How many times did not this organ heave 

Out of its melody's breast the national air 

Of Irishmen? — And 'ti^ your daughter? will 

She tolerate renewed questions ? 
Sarah. Desire me 

To say my Pater Noster ! Who's afeard ? 

What right have they to search our house that way. 

Yes, sir, yes sir I'll stand you examining-into. 
Curr AN . Ay prod her. Whose daughter should n't but a barrister's? 
Hardwicke. She shall excuse the immunity. We are after 

Two young men by the name of Redmond & Russel, 

Could she inform us of their whereabouts. 



35 



Sarah. Am I a bureau ? how come I to them ? 

I never heard these names, my«girlhood on't. 
I know them not I know them, know them not. 

Hardwicke. Never saw tlie young men described ? 

Sarah. What description ? 

As't were aught to tally, — the audacity. 

Curran. Convey'em round Scotland Yard, you offered the cue, 

Hardwicke. We possess the following details of them : 

They're of medium stature, brunette and handsome. 
With a portly gait carried aristocratic, 
They're members ot the United Irishmen, 
Redmond wears a surtoit and Hessian boots 
By the way as landmarks. And 't is recently 
The general amnesty immuning them 
They have returned from expatriation. 

Sarah. From where should I know them ? 

Curran. Retire to rest 

Where thou shoulds be at this time in the bed. 
Cry not, cry not. I'am a councillor 
I'm aquainted with the law. I never 
Protected to my knowledge any of 
The gentlemen in question, for in fact 
It is a question whether they are gentlemen. 
I call that bare-faced intrusion, specific are 
The time for search and you have chosen the direst, 
I'll have the matter brought before the chancery 
Before to-morrow's moonset. — As for you — 
I've told you go to bed— I want an invoice 
Of what you've found suspicious — Sarah get in- — 
The disorder created in my home, the dishevelling 
Of night's relaxed hair, — get in or I'il chase you in — 
For all of which, items. 

Sarah. Like a cattle 

To be driven and redriven.— Oh unheard-of 

Ignominy ! Why what a prerogative 

To assume what a second harbors. They shall not 

Ransack, if I can help it — daddy leave me 

Go — well sir, you'll abstain from disintegrating. 



—36— 

For if you mean — I wont be chased to bed — 

To rob us of our possession, — leave me be — 

Then I demand your exit straight unceremouyless. 

Right about and streetward. Or I do alarm 

The entire household sir. Dickey my brother, — 

Get out of bed we are assailed by highwaymen! 

Lo ! where my mother comes the garret down! 

Where are you porter? servant-lass send for a constable. 

CuRRAX. Musha, don't trumpet a special session up. 

Hardwicke. Miss Curran and Mister Curran we regret 
To be the incentive to this upheaval. 
Officers, cease the search. We now but crave 
To aid us in describing whether Emmet 
Is also a United Irishman. 

Grattan, No cross-questioning here sir. 

S.\RAH. United Irishman? 

Why what kind of Irishmen are United Irishmen ? 

Curran. Why Irishmen that are n't apart, — nolo defendam. 

Sarah. 1 dont know anything about it at all, at all. 

Hardwicke. Not the least intimacy A\ite Robert Emmet ? 

Sarah. Daddy, what do they urge ? no not the least. 
What means the night's coercion on us ? 

Hardwicke. The following. 

The reputed visits of his at Harold's Cross, 
Having raised suspicion's standard and send forth 
The scouter's trail, easy enough of itself. 

Curran. But my house is fourteen by fifty, Harold's Cross 
Is a quarter of a mile. Upon the pain 
Of outlawry, I never harbored any of them. 

Hartley. I offer we go up Kevin Streen where are 
The headquarters of the United Irishmen. 

Hardwicke. 'Tis a point in reference. Light us ofhcers 
The stairs streetward. Sorry we be extremely 
Counsellor and for a pardon hope. 
Along the shadow of suspicion I move 
And stumble for sheer proof, for the which I hope 
You'll be exemplary and lend a hand 
For a clearage. — Call to-morrow at the Castle. 



•37- 



At nine o'clock when the Privy Council meets 
Under Lord Castlereagh. 

Come ahead down Bartley, come ahead down officers, 
A good-night's rest Counsellor Curran. 

(Exeunt). 



ACT 3. 

SCENE I. A Street before the Castle- 

Enter- Majors Sandys and Severs in dialogue 
and holding eirculars. 

Sandys. Just say Severs, say to this discovery? 
Is it not time the arsenal's howitzers 
To switch upon these rebel inconociasts 
Who ever were and are the chief projectors 
Of these volcanic missile-shelling, ha? 

Severs. I deem it opportune to erect 

Such ramparts that securely might rebuff 

The onslaught of aggression. For to let 

Those propagandas of these malfactors 

Their aggravate ignominy attain 

Were to make frail the splicing of reliance 

That knots the English Pale and what the hazard 

Lest it untwines. Twere well to tighten it. 

Sandys. And tight I shall by my majorship. 

Lest this continues as it is continueing, 

I will to Castlereagh the secretary 

And fore his lordship lay the label of 

Aggresion's substance, so he might be judge of 

The pottery of tranquility, the extent 

Of the crack thereon and the disbursement of 

For its reclaying 

Severs. I ween if you're about it 

This will at least tincture the blanched dye 
Of anguish that these casualties 
Incurred the pigment of. But yet to water 
Conjecture's mall, these fears scarce irrigate, 



—ss— 



Sandys, 



Severs. 



Sandys. 



Bartley. 

Sandys. 

Bartley. 

Sandys, 

Bartley. 

Sandys 

Bartley. 

Sandys. 



Why these chimeric scandals permeate 
Through the snug furrow of inquietude 
I lack the hoze of motive. 

'Tis but this. 
England, as I surmise, you are aware of 
So as to be invincibly secure 
Pending the incursion of Napoleon's legions 
Whose land and maritime forces that way tend, — 
Has, in premeditation of her posture 
Herself impregnable made and as protectorate 
Passed recently a bill annexing Ireland 
By virtue of a union of the Parliaments 
To her dominions; whereupon the Irish 
Or chiefly those United Irishmen, 
No sooner nephews made unto the compact 
Than they with agitationary rudders 
Rebuff the billows of enforced decorum 
And furtively, with slow but steady expedients 
The island's state in state of peril keep. 
Be this but thus as you surmise it major 
Then best for us were to frustrate this menace 
And from the thwarting turf eradicate 
The very root's rootlets, 

I'll see me for a shovel, — 
Rest easy in the hammock. — Here's Bartley, 

Enter Bartley ivith a lantern. 
And with a lantern. In the throne's name, whose ? 

The arsenals. 
Bears Bartley it ? 

Sir Major! 

W^ell ? 

I bear it. 
Approach therewith. 

I'm right along sir major. 
Switch the ordinance streetward on the embrazure 
Let us be ready to recartridge those 
That hold us targetted. Will you be with me 
What sample of emetic we compound 



—39— 

To puke this peril oft. 
Bartley. I'll be that drugsman. 

Sandys. Precede me to the castle. Lantern high ! 
Bartley. I lift it sir major. (^Exeunt) 



SCENE 2. Another street 7iear the castle. 

Sounds of cannon roars afar off, Cries of "Riot" "Riot." 
Eiiter two Rioters a7id other rioters. 

1st Rioter. Share phwat the devil's that ? 

2nd Rioter. That's the moon settin? 

1st Rioter. She's settin' with a moighty crash in Olreland ! 

2nd Rioter. Here're two in taffeta hats, kape a-sleuth. 

ist Rioter. Get back o'th' mud-barrel, yez spalpeens. 
{Enter O'Connell and Grattan meeting) 

O'CONNELL. Sure Grattan this must be, 

CiRATTAN. Guess that's O'Connell. 

0*CoNNELL. Grattan there ! 

Grattan. Shake hands ! 

O'Connell. Ay and hold on ! 

For the ground shakes under us slip-shot. 
I just come of^ an ace on a debate 
Of eminent domain against Ear) Gulchie 
And as you know I live on Grafton Street 
In that direction sauntering, suddenly 
My heart almost palpitating in me 
Out of abstract fright, right under my toes 
A gunpowder fuse went oft. 

Grattan. There's in it discernment. 

I suppose it is the retaliation of 
The United Irishmen because we didn't 
Join in the cause. See the suspicious two, 
With others in the distance. There's aught afloat. 
Got a cudgel about ? 

O'Connell. My knuckless '11 do for proxy. 

Grattan. Ye twain whoever you be or ought to be 
Why do you like a bat about a steeple 
'Trail us in the street ? 



—40— 

1st Rioter. We've matter with the both o'you, 

Grattan. With us? 

1st Rioter. Exactly. 

Grattan. We'll have you state and end 

The matter. 
1st Rioter. They're state's matters. 

Grattan. That there 

Matters but little, 
O'CONNELE. Well you ughly ricksaw 

What's aft with the concourse of the twain of you ? 
2nd Rioter. What matters that to you ? 

O'CoNNELL. In that what's the matter ? 

2nd Rioter. We've matter for you. 
Grattan. They intend us abrasion 

For they want our carnivorous matter, 
1st Rioter. Just 

About the size of that. 
2nd Rioter. P or we would know 

How Parliamentarians fare with hardware of 

The sharp variety. 

{They set on them. O^Connell 
and Grattan fly crying 
"■Riot! Riot."') 
1st Rioter. We'll give'em what they gave Thistlewood. 
2nd Rioter. A sound preliminary. Here's more anon. 

[Enter a Riot-act proclaimer 
followed by citizens) 
RioT-AcT Proclaimer. (reads) Rioters of Dublin ! Our sovereign 
lord the king chargeth and commandeth all persons being assembled 
immediately to disperse themselves and peaceably depart to their 
habitation or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in 
the penal code made and enacted in the first year of the House of 
Hanover for preventing tumultuons and riotous assemblies. God save 
the king ! 

1st Rioter. Have you finished ? 
RiOT-AcT Proclaimer. Ihav'e. 
1st Rioter. We'll finish you then. 

TJie^ murder him and the citizens. 
{Exeunt. 



41 



SCENE 3. Before Dublin Castle, 

The sides of the stage representing street-corners. 

Enter Robert Emmet in itniform from one street meeting 

Redmond, Russel, McCabe, McCarthy, and O' Shiel 

tvith revolvers from the other coming. 



Emmet. 



Redm. 
Emmet, 

RUSSEL. 

Emmet. 

RUSSEL. 

Emmet. 

Redm. 
Emmet. 

Redm. 
Rlssel. 

Emmet, 



Connrads, appropriate met. The pulse of duty 
Unswervingly beats. Fail any among us however I 
Where's Redmond ? 

Here. 

And Russel ? 

There. 



Where are 



.McCabe and McCarthy ? 



There they are. 



Where is 



Redm. 



O'Sheil ? 

He's here with the rest. 

Then we are all 
Together? 

No not altogether. 

O' Sullivan 
Is missing among us. What are we to do? 
When you know not what to do, do nothing, 
Is a principle with us. O'Sullivan 
Puts us into a quandary as to whether 
Proceed or otherwise tarry. Proceed would put 
A set-back on our part since those adherants 
Under O'Brien's leadership have failed 
To make appearance. On the other hand 
To tarry would unman the fortitude 
We are champions of, for the instant ef the attack 
To be perpetrated. Which of ye prefer 
That we in the disbursement of being liable 
Fall scanty in the amount of exercise 
But reach the purpose's asset. 

As to that 



—42— 

I would enjoia we had best defer 
Till the pellicle heave. 
Emmet. If the rest agree — 

Hus. I'm for that option. 

O'Sheil. Likewise I. 

McCabe- I also. 

Emmet. Aquiesce you with them McCarthy ? 
McCarthy. For my part. 

Emmet. That's ambiguously averred. 
McCarthy. I go in that railing. 

Emmet. Oh that's obvious. Then we will wait for O'Brien. 

Enter 0''Stdlivan hastily. 
Redm. Give waiting the stub O'SuUy ! 

Emmet. Where's the mishief Herlihy. 

That your feature bear excitement's contour ? Met 

You Harriet anywhere ? 
O'Sullivan. Her ! met her in Grafton Street 

at the head of a troup of rioters intoxicated. 
Emmei'. Hear I aright? Intoxicated! I do not 

Chei-ish it at all. Has she wooed Bauhante? it seems 

I misinterpreted her. Erin, thy stupefying 
Enter 0''Hara. 

Thy many distilleries cause thee. Hello O Hara ! 

Wherefrom arrive you? 
O'Hara. From Parliament Street Emmet- 

The rioters have sacked the Parliament 

Then in a body leaderless ignited 

Conciliation Hall, thence divided 

In companies, the companies taking head 

Respectively to the Hibernian Library 

The Custom House, the City Hall, the Bank 

Of Ireland, setting them all on fire 

With torches and with cans of photogen . 

Patrick Cathedral and Holy Trinity Church 

Have become dyers and tinged the sky a new mordant. 

A Kilkenny band has attacked and skirmished 

Kilmainham Penitentiary and made 

Calvary out of it. 
Emmet. Allow inquiry O'Hara 



—43— 



O'Hara. 
Emmet. 

RUSSEI,. 

Emmet. 
Redm. 

RUSSEL. 

O'Brien. 
Emmet • 

O'Brien. 



Emmet. 

RUSSEI,. 

Emmet. 



Redm . 

RUSSEL. 

O'Brien. 



Has O'Dwyer's band been about? 

No inkling ot him. 
[ mind me now I wrote him a later date. 
'Tis bad and odd, how are we now to act ? 
I told yon when you do not know what to do, 
Do not do anything, the cheapest apothegm. 
There's someone running hither at breakneck. 
Mark close, a stamping. 

Enter O'' Br ten out of breath, 

A running step carries 
A telling import. 

Oh pals, pals, — 

Well what's 
The besiegeable on the ears' portcullis Clancy. 
The pike and ax of news'. Long Merrion Square 
The men of Wicklow with flag and music marching 
Intercepted a calash bearing chief-justice 
Kilwarden and his daughter, and put to pike 
The body of the aged jurist. 

Killed him ! Oh murder 
Whom art thou dallying in revolution's night ? 
Grand for him ! serves him straight ! the legal scamp ! 
Enpal this gashed-up intelligence for nothing 
Can expose the like brutality. Oh I 
Know not what to do with myself! 

Man born 
'Tis the petty sprinkling. But is 't the whole of the hose? 
O'Brien narrate the rest, what's the last chapter ? 
May I be paralytic and expire 
Upon the pavement, if what I say's untrue. 
While a group of the insurgents crossed the Coombe 
To link with a concours'd band, unawares, 
From out the Kingstown barracks, the militia 
In an vinwavering charge did toward them head 
With pike and rifle. They met the combatans 
And at the sortie half succeeded had 
In frustrating them, when to their mortification 
The British dragoners in the midst appearing 
Into contusion drove them, which exercise 



—44 — 

Brought helter-skelter the adversary 

To the level of rout. They could not rally after that. 

Meanwhile the bustle and the din of armor 

Chilling the populace with frigid climate 

At the north side of twilight, the scarce-warmed da\An 

Like vermins out of burrow-holes emanating. 

Tumble out of bed pell-mell and topsy-turvy 

Scud nude about the lanes and thoroughfares 

Aghast, perplexed with cries of 'Riot" "Riot". 

Noting this I scourged at trotter's rate along 

To acquaint you with the species of events 

That progressed have. I deem it but sagacious 

We disperse forwith. 

Emmet. J'^st shelf that caustic will you ! 

Drip none of that into those pustules that 
These tiding corrode us with. 

Redmond (to Russel) What a catastrophe ! 

RussEL (to Redm) Frightful ! 

McCabe (to McCarthy) What disparaging tiding ! 

McCarthy (to McCabe) Of the extreme. 

O'Sheil (to SuUiv) A chill yarn this. 

O'SuLLiv (to O'Sheil) A nor here nor there narrative. 

O'Sheii.. Our leader offers council, attend fellow-comrads. 

Emmet. The decisive instance's arrived. An instance only 
Last all decision, the after influence 
An hiatus. Let us therefore be hilaric I say 
Rather than pensive. So, so, so, this then 
Is the narrative, it's quite well-asterick'd 
If the agate bears the romance's folio proofsheets through! 

O'Brien. [aside] I'm no subscriber to such blarney. 

Emmet. I 

Shall supplement to that a "to be continued" 
That'll savor of the thrilling. I insist we cheer 
Hurrah I I'll fight it out till the fight be roundly 
Fought out on military tactics. I intend 
To counter death in any uncouth alley 
Than be coup'd off with a handful adherers 
For the gibbet's raffle. Not, "no, no, no", 
But "yes, yes, yes", rap her hard and no coaxing 



—45— 

About it. Then as well that way, — "Faugh-a-ballagli !"" 

It is a republic we for Irishmen would. 

In line Etruscans, on deck. We are men 

And Irishmen, get that. Into the Castle 

Redmond, Russel, McCabe, McCarthy, O'Sheil, 

O'Suliivan, O'Haraand O'Brien, 

And immolate her guards. I remain 

On the exterior to await the forces 

About due from the suburbs. — Forward! though 

Our heads or bodies founder, cleave for Paddy I 

Sally hard for Ireland the land of ire I 

High with the harp of Tara ! Erin's lads 

Shall key her a tune anew ! 

Exeunt all into the 
castle except Emmet. 
This night is riot's statue. There's Harriet Sarsfield — 
Staggering and intoxicate, an abhorrence 
Of a sight for a young woman, in a juncture 
So critical. — Derelict on decency and stock'd 
With Scotch high-ball and what bumper not — 

Enter Harriet drunk. 
Up to premium. Drunk and tottering 
I shall ignore her. Looking at thee Harriet 
I'am impelled to sigh alas. 

Harrikt. Why alas? 

Since 't is a lass. 

Emmet. For ?. lad ? you'd ingraft 

Anybody repugnance. 

Harriet. How would I ? 

Emmet. Is this proper 

A condition to be in ? From whose aleshop 
Do you take night -walks ? 

Harriet. I maintain equipoise. 

Emmet. It is manifest Oh ay, — why you topple this way. 

Harriet. True lad I would have parley with thee. I 

Am well alive of whose to stretch to night. 
Though my mind whirls yet my limbs they, — they, — 
Be not then shaking me oft because of absinthe. 
By the riot's anniversary, you're buxomest 



-46— 



Emmet. 

Harriet. 

Emmet- 

Harriet. 

Emmet. 

Harriet. 

Emmet. 

Harriet. 



Emmet. 
Harriet 



Emmet. 

Harriet. 
Emmet. 

Harriet. 
Emmet. 



Harriet, 

Emmet. 
Harriet. 



Of the tread easy. A secret ! let's elope. 
Leave me alone Harriet, I must off. 
Do not be dodging me I'll not be tagging thee. 
Oh will ye leave me then free from ye ? 
Dazzling sapphire 1 

An-ah ! 'tis emerald I'm. 
My bud o'primrose ! 

Musha, 'tis shamrock I'm. 
Faix, viewing thee up thou feignest similitude 
Of Carolan typified at the harp. I cherish 
Companionship with comrads who have borne 
The classic stamp as thou. Thy plaited locks 
Have keyed the cithera, chimed up the verse 
Of Moore, his sacred muse apostrophizing. 
Contemptuous allusion ! respectlessness 
Of insinuation ! Get away from me for good. 

Of verification he 
Had dedication made thee. I imbibe 
Of the muse and madeira, so here goes honeysuckle 
I press the "thee" of thee to the ''mine" of me. 
Hm ! how's the bow of this violin colophony ? 
From a tipstress at the puncheon, poetry 
Like this, amusing sounds, instructive barely. 
Pray you lad a sip from the scoop. 

Get on 
You're martin-drunk 

Now, now — 

Yes now, now — 
Remove thy arms from my neck, that system 
Were condemnible. 

Lord, lord, I fancy you inscrutibly 
Inaxpressibly unto very violence. 
Father Prount what an epiphany ! 

Nay evict me not- 
For months have 1 surveyed the opportunity 
To divulge to you my attributes. Ay I do 
Experience emotion to be thy, — thy, — 
In this great night when liberty's accomplished 



—47— 

Thou, president of the provisional government, 
As thy love, I'd share thy triumph's tribulation, 

And mount with thee the scaffold for Erin's sake. 

Emmet. What blarney and what blubber ? I'm devoted 
Too far to my country's love to give a thought 
To frills and furbelows. 

Harriet. That's making it travesty. 

I'm sober enough, 'tis forgery inculcate, 
(Spite o'th' wet overhaul to drown my sorrows) 
And to a pretence. Drunken as 1 am I know 
Thou fanciest Sarah Curran, she the rival 
Of revolutionary Harriet Sarsfield 
Who carries a revolver when she covets 
A purpose for a use. 

Emmet. Wish you were angry! 

Inebriate ire less than love intoxicate 
Homely appears. I venture you sober not oft 
In a sennight. 

Harriet. Bit of a foreteller ! a fair 

Presaging flamen, straight prognostieated. 

Emmet. I demand in the name of decency and etiquette 
You leave me cross the steps and into the castle 
For I would to the patriots within there. 

Harriet. Ducky, ere hence, scurvy and lepery had prior 
Encrustate me if I infringe on thy scope. 
Oh wherefore slight you me ? With Sarah Curran 
Thou gambolest lightfoot who hugg'd thee to the teat 
Feigning a toy-spaniel on hertoozled lap, 
I ween, I ween. 

Emmet. Arrah, disengage thee from my body in the mean. 

{Noise iviihin) 

Harriet. Nay ye myrmidons in the battle of affection 
Persist by death's crevice, hold by Marathon ! 
Love for one's land, one's home, one's fancied features 
Are the swooning twilight that revive the dawn, 
Oh to live, to love, to die is all a girl cares for. 
Life without love is death, death with love is life 
As when living by loving, dying only for loving 



—48 



Emmet 



Harriet. 



Emmet. 

Harriet, 

Emmet. 



Yea loving unto dying, ay e'en loving whilst living. 

Emmet. Dark is the night, my way is bleak and far! 
The street's on riot and beloved I'm being. 

Harriet, Odd 'tis that thou inspirest. Bid me rush 

In fire-flame, leap the rapids, my head fracture 
Against the rock tarpean, jaguar-like howl 
The lemur's roar against, counter the typhoon 
In Mid-Afric's — 

Self-duped, rum-crazed 
Beer-besot Harriet. Oh for being 
Rescued from her ! 

A final appeal recalcitrate. 
With thee to the parochial, without, — the obituary. 
Gainsay me and I riot al! over thee. 
Halt there ! (draws revolver) 

Enticemeut's slice willt offiance mc I 
Harriet Sarsfield make a terminus, offer 
The "now I lay me down to sleep" to Ireland. 
Her sunset and thy bredtime's about due. 
I'll cause thy countrygirls strow pansies o'er — 
Thy grave and have'era inscribe. "There's one 
Lived once, unrebeloved by one, died as one such once, 
Conn'd by rote the terse syllable of drink. 
Wrote the three of the four letters spelling it stupor 
Dying in a riot's night", 

Harriet. Jnst give us a hug will you ? 

Give's a lying-in, at least a hold-round? 

Emmet. Lewd lout, I'll bury a bullet in thy chest's 
Cemetery. 

Harriet. Oh ye will, will ye ? 

Emmet. (fires) There then, — Ha I 

With a gasp die whilst I ery Erin-go-bragh ! 

Harriet. Sisters of charity ! sisters of mercy, — 'tis 

Shot I have been, the unmolten lead sizzles in me. — 
Assistance I I succumb I Oh Emmet, did ye count 
By shooting me, to cheat me of the gallows ? 
Already death woos me and claims me his bride. 
Night of my horizon hurry the midnight and 
Ship me above 1 for below have I had ?hare in 



—49 — 

As had preceding patriotess' for Erin ! Exit staggering 
(Enter from the Castle McCahe"^ 
McCarthy, C'Slieil, O' Sullivan and msh off in dii'>erse direction. 
EmmJ'.t. The last ol the vSarsfield's stock I gamble off. — 

Ho there McCabe ! ho there McCarthy ! Hist— 

Whom are ye after ? where the destination ? 

U'Sheil! O'Shtill O'SulUvan ! O'Sullivan ! 

Like dust across a crevice seen and gone. 
Enter Redmond. 

In time and to the purpose sliown yourself. 

Redmond, what's to be aevined ! no forces? 

Why M as there not a Roman rocket shot oft ? 

Haste, haste, signal the forces, clang the tocsin 

From the minarets. — There's Harriet staggering. 
Redm. Ne'er mind, she's tipsy. The stairs are undermuied. 

EMMiiT. Escalade them. 

Redm. The ladders are demolish'd. 

Emmet. Well scale the secret labyrinth Poor Hetty I 
Redm. Why do you pine o'er inebriates? What labyrinth ? 

Emmet. What labyrinth ? Just like the Sarsheld jag 

Who lies prostrated by me, trumped out of mush 
Redmond. Killed ! To what labyrinth refer you ? 
Emme r. That from the crypt that's winding. 
Redm. I'll try if I can 

And if I can, try ascension. 
Emmet. Clear the dormitory. 

Redm. I'll clear that. 

Emmet. Pass across to the citadel. 

Redm. There's a gangway Hrst. 

Emmet. Diiuble quick on the sprint. 

Yet wait. Oh Harriet Sarstield, by my arm 
Enter Husssl. 

Pushed oft" the edge ! Ha! Russel ! 
Russee. Ahead ! 

Emmet. Ahead ? 

Russet,. We are pursued — 
Redm Tracked after? 

Emmet. Track'd ? pursued ? 

Russel. Ay ay. 



— 50— 

Rkdm. Art sure ? 

Emmet. What true ? by wiiom ? when? where? 

KussF.L. The castle's garrison — 

Redm. Under Hardwicke is it? 

RUSSEL. Are routing, -raiding, — 

Emmet. Whose adhei ers ? 

RussEL. Ours! 

Emmet. I,iberty and tyranny keep me sane! 

RussEL. 'Tis true. 

Emmet. The uproar construes as much. 

[Explosions within. 
RussEL. Hark! the explosives ! What's with Harriet ? 
Redm. Dump her out of view. Cheer up Robert Emmet. 

Every alekeeper knew Harriet for a booze, 
The sound of marchers. Here's the promised boon. 
The cusp rotates, get round my jollies, for 
It will be Ireland or England or anarchy 
Or neither. 

On the side of the stafje representing street-corners 
appear delegation of armed men carrying Irish 
banners, commanded by AlcCabe, McCarthy, O'Shei 
and O'Sullivan 
Russel. The subleaders 1 take initiate ! 

Emmei'. Cistleward pals ! the portal past ! o'er the steps I rah! 
Historic Gaels! {rushes on, the men following viith '"Hurrah 

{for Robert EmmeV. 
Hurrah for me? No, hurrah for Ireland 1 
The portals slip open. From! a respite there ! 

The Castle gates open and reveal 
Hardwicke and British red-coats 
ready for a charge. 
RedM(DND. There's the Earl, Russel, there's the Earl, Emmet. 
Hardwicke. Into the streets, riotes ! 

Emmet. Not on your red-coats 

Hardwicke. Soldiers dispute the entrance to tlie portcullis! 
Emmet. Swing round the bastion lads ! 

Hardwicke. A volley on the scabe ! 

Firing begins on both sides and 
a hand-to hand fight ensiies. 
Emmet. Iintt them Hebernians— these Castile bulls — 
Hardwicke. Beat them back ! combine with the reserves — 



—51 — 

Emmet. Land riglit and left — jab'em with shillelaghs — 
Push in and past ! get to the bayley wall, — 

Hardwicke. Corner the leaders, -arrest them -get them in custody — 

Emmet. Hrvc you got them ? they'll give it to them ! 
I, an Irish cur ? dirty English slop of a cur ! 

H.VRUWiCKE. On the top o'them, slugthem stepward,-gain an inning 
Thrust them th's way, — parry them collective — 

Emmet. Hands with me lads ! the fists and knuckles of the hand ! 

Irish are beaten 

Rally— 
K'ally less lads, rally less strenuous, 
The hurl from freemen fails to wallow tyranny. 

Hardwicke. Disperse and give chase, polish it into them. — 

EMMi:r, Retreat my pals. 

Cancel the bloodshed, we're reduced in the fight, 
Adherants few ! adhere with me in flight. 

HardwtcIvE. Pursue 'em ! pursue 'em ! Exeunt pursued and amidst 

explosions and cries of '"Riot"' '"Riot"- 



ACT 4» 

SCEIVE I. Louth. Dublin. Interior of 

King's Court. Lord Norbury and barons as Judges; a Jury 

of twelve on one side, ?iear whom sits the Courtclerk 

discovered People at the court- doors fronted 

by military. Robert Emmet guarded. 

NoRKiJRY. Clerk of the .\ssizts! 

Clerk. Your honor? 

Norbury. See whether the counsellors 

Curran and attorney for the Crown 

Pkmket. have prepared respectively 

For the summing up. 
Clerk. That they have so please your honor. 

They have sent notice they await being summoned. 
Norbury. Have'em brought before. 
Clerk. The errand's spared my lord- 

They return nnsummoned. Here are both come to court* 



—52— 

Enter Curran and Plunket 

from opposite doors and take scats. 

NoRHURY. Jurors of the Assizes, are you ready 

To <jive attention, out of the law's grace 
State's evidence and the defence being in, 
To the resumption ? 

Foreman. Ready my lord justice. 

NoRBURV. Attorney for the state Baronet Plunket 
Take the initiatory. Clerk report 
Verbatim and on vellum whatsoever's 
Set forth in the delivery, then file it. 
Along states documentals. Crown's counsel to the bar ! 

Plunket. Gentlemen of the jury, judges of the bench, 
In summing up for the crown no duty more 
Imposing than the present one devolves 
Upon the prosecutor for the kingdom. 
Gentlemen, no commonplace defendent 
Yonder pen holds, but a criminal de facto 
Charged with the infring'd statute of the Sixth Edward, 
With compassing the king's death, with levying 
Against his realm war, with allying 
With a foreign foe, itself treason to the crown. 

Clirran. (aside) Tap a couple ot more tacks into, why dont he? 

Peunket. Honored baron-comsnissioners of the Assizes — 
Shall confine myself to the last named 
Indictment. Robert Emmet the arraigned 
Together with a number of fedow-comrads 
On the night of July the twenty-third attempted 
To seize by force the Government buildings of 
The city of Dablin, the object of said prisoner 
Being to instal a provisional government 
Supplanting the monarchical. Now, it this 
Is not high treason then I was never attorney 
For people or for state, then there is 
No high treason at all, no people and no s(ate. 

Curran. (aside) Wait the abrading thou dost him will cost thee peeling 

Plunket. Furthermore, as hereuntofore proven 

Therefore and no abatement of the crime 
Which by the law's presumption is no crime 



—53— 

Till so adjudged by jury. Robert Emmet 
Would set up an institution, a governn.cnt, — 
A government of lawful lawlessness 
If anarchy could be its mononym, 
Which is debatable. 
CCrran (aside) How severe a tone from a relative I ''lis a galling. 

The bladder it disfends and well-night ruptures. 
Plunket. Enthusiasts in their dream's delirium 

Imagine they unledge could, what centuries 
It, to enmason took. It forever will 
Remain a spectre of an impression the riot. 
( )h what a spectacle for civilization ! 
I do not need to go over the particulars 
Of that singular event. And I conclude 
Empanelled jurymen and convey you 
That the arraigned in person Robert Emmet,— 
Instrumental in Harriet J^arsfield's immature death, 
Involved in Judge Kilwarden's premature homicide, 
The deience being incapable so iar 
To clinch the moral issue of the state 
N'crsus rebellion, that when you retire 
To deliberate, I hope that you return 
A verdict worthy of the duty and namely 
Guilty of high treason to the Crown. 
NoRBURY. Counsel for the defence will follow. 
Clerk. John 

Philpot Curran barrister, to the bar ! 
Curran. My lord judge-baron, ladies and gentlemen, — 
As counsel for the defence in the king's assizes 
Eor the prisoner held let me extol the law 
That labors both bnder a guilty ransom 
As under a guiltless. I have upon occasions 
Prior to this argued for diverse clients 
Whose incriminatory always was political 
But never until now was it for me to plead 
Other than that. Eor in this present case 
High treason is the appellation of 
The charge by the honorable I'aron Plunket. 



—54— 

Why should this be high treason over or under 

Than was the Despard and Fitzgerald precedent ? 

By precedent alone a charge is judged. 

Why, has he murdered anyone? murdered have 

Committed his associates, therefore then 

The corpus delicti emphasized by the crown 

Has a leak in the cooperage. 

Plunket. (aside") The goat rams in the woods 

When the gibbet's but a stone's throw. 

CuRRAN. Let me then trust 

That you are conscious of the trial's site 
The kind of vicinity it hath allotted yovi 
That ihe prisoner's lottery lies in your raffle, , 
That his existence poises in your behalf 
That his life's deposit lies in the v'erdict's vault. 
And may 1 also trust, you rather have 
All his demerits underjudged than have 
Misjudged his merits. Let it be my confidence 
That you have contemplated o'er the scene 
Of your duty and rest settled. 

Plunket. (aside) This stale poker 

Won't caper any aces up. 

Clrran. The sublimest 

Master of sculptors never in his art 
As dexterous was as when he turned out 
The article man his masterpiece. Examine him ! 
The features of Heracles lie stamped upon him 
The cunning of Jason, of Minerva the 
Intuitional handicraft, for him Pythias 
Weeps in her pining for the love of him 
The man, i er-to-be, the son of a father, 

Gone from amidst us, honored and revered, — 
Robert Emmet, --there he stands, --look at him gentlemen 
Of the jury — see him ! — does he wince at having 
The charge of high treason flung at him 
The awe-inspiring, not the repulsive 
In him makes that apparent. Now his eyes 
Are soaked, but so are mine I warrant ye. 

NoRDURY. Go on Counsellor Curran, continue. 



55 



CuRRAN. 1 plead then 

For tlie prisoner's extremity of youth 

Of the world at large, his inexperience 

With people his seniors. The good and true 

Fall always victim to the bad and false. 

The honorable Baron Plunket was 

A schoolfellow of Emmet's — 
Plunket. I object 

To personal aL'usion. 
NoRBURY. That objection 

I overrule baron. 
Plunket. Why, why not sustain it my lord. 

When Robert Emmet's affianced is the daughter 

Of Counsellor Curran's — 
CuRRAN. Oh just hear that 

Flap o'the wing ! I stirred a beetle-hive. 

Sustain it your henor, sustain the glorious baron. 
Plunket. Let him plead insanity — 

CuRRAN. On a demurrer may be. 

Plunket. Have'em paroled — 
CuRRAN. Perhaps remanded ? 

NoRBURY. (gavelling) Counselors! 

CuRRAN. Concluding then, 

I plead against death-sentence that it may 

Mutation undergo for life-transport 

To Van Dieman's land. Bring in a verdict. I fully 

Anticipate unanimous an aquittal. 

NoRBURY. Gentlemen of the jury retire for a verdict. 
Foreman, We concord on instruction and conhrm. 
NoRBURY. Clerk of the court convey the gentlemen 

• Into the jurychamber. Exeunt clerk and jury. 

A pause of three minute after which 
re-enter jurors and clerks, who reseat 
themselves. 
Clerk. My lord the verdict's reached. 
NoRBURY. Rise all concerned. 

The law requests your attention in the direction 
Of the jury. 
Foreman. Our duty as jurors to the court. 



56 



Nroburv. Jurors — 

Look on the prisoner, prisoner look 
Upon the jury. Say your verdict sir. 
Foreman. We, the twelve jnrors in the trial conducted for Robert 
Emmet charged with instigating and abetting in the riot of July the 
twenty-third in the city of Dublin find the aforementioned prisoner 
Robert Emmet guilty of high treason to the state with a recomend- 
ation of leniency to the grace of the King's Assizes. So htlp us 
God Almighty. 

NoRBURY. You may resume your seats until dismissed. 
I thank you highty gentlemen of the jiu"y. 

Curran and Plunket rise to object 
a general consternation. 
Clerk. Order ! His honor, the judge-baron speaks. 
NoRBURY.' Gentlemen 

In further are exempt. And I commend 
The patience you displayed. Robert Emmet 
A jury of twelve citizens find you guilty 
Of high treason to the state. The clerk of the court 
Shall put it formally. 

What have you now 
To say why death and judgement schould not be 
Upon you passed according to the verdict ? 
May it please the judge and public. It has been 
Requested of me what I have to say 
Why sentence of death upon me should not be 
Pronounced to law according. I have, in what 
I may myself the immunity deem, to say, 
Hardly of validity anything. Yet if 
It be to the court no breach of etiquette 
I shall endeavor to unharness me from 
The mesh of testimony wherewithal * 

I like a raft was tugged in the maelstrom. From same 
With that view in mind I seize the opportunity 
To vindicate myself from the charges of 
Grave infamy and obloquy consigned 
Outrageous libel, dastard calumny ! 
NoRBURY. Take care, take care there prisoner, cease there. 
The accomplishment of all your chimerical 



Clerk. 



EMiMET. 



-57— 



And mad design for a government's overturning 

Will never measure with the base defiant 

Position of such as you adjudged of a crime 

How you, the superiors in the law's service 

The charivari give. Nor fire nor flood 

Shall consume as has the fire and ihe flood 

( )f your bashlessness and spitefulness and what not. 

Consumed the cinders of respect and that way 

Aroused dissension in loyalty. I insist 

Upoi^ the moderation ot your tone, 

Irrespective of impulsion. 

'["his is a court sir, a court of law and euuiry. 

Which unevoked is passive, but w ill counter 

'1 he big voice with the huge law CACrp time. 

Proceed, the court desires you continue. 

Emm El'. Let no one epitaph me, for as none 

That shared my motives vindicate them might 

As I had recourse to. When Ireland takes 

Her place among the nations of the world 

Then, only then at not until then, let 

My epitaph l>e written. But till then 

And when my soul shall heaven's empire enter 

And join the bands of Ireland's patriot-martyrs 

Who bled vipon the battle as on scaffold 

I've still that hope that my adherant survivors 

The remnant crew of freedom's expedition 

The bark of liberty not cease to ply 

Though they're reversed by that perfidious pilot 

Who in pretence of stewarding their course 

With a pair of muscles hard as sledgehammer 

Whereto appendixed pend two wrought-iron paws 

Into a cesspool steers them; who betrays 

Their destiny, grating it along askew 

The ingulfing reef, the liquid quicksand shoal? 

Of vmbuoyed rapids' treacherous undertow 1 

NoRBURV. Forbear ! I do abjure you ay admonish 
Against these sentiment enunciated. 
A Punchinello you and your blazonry 



—58 — 

Forensic, yourself as well as the court eonsiderest 
With oakboy cawing and with guffaw retort 
To the immediate in-hearing. You've been 
As was during the trial convinced, connected 
With French authority I term treason; treason 
That glares by flaring prima faciae. 
1 do not know gentlemen of the jury, 
No, gentlemen of the jury, 1 seriously 
Regret we have a court at all, 1 regret it. 
What cares the rioter for the Magna Carta, 
A king's signet go'^ds him on to riot, 
What's his concern, let alone nonchalance, for 
Petitions, for the Bill of Rights, the Statutes 
Of praemunire ? why what bothers he o'er tallage, 
O'er scuttage, disseizure or the Privy Council ? 
Where rascalty could o'er her shoulders toss 
The shawl of malignity, these iconoclasts 
Would trot the alley that style. No court-justice 
Ever yet legislated for vindicators 
Who wielded boomerangs across their scalp 
With recreant aim. Nor will I tolerate 
The fusilade of abuse you rams me with, 
No sir, I'm not bound to. 
I'mmet. I appeal to the immaculate God 

Before whose throne I shortly shall appear 
By the dead patriot's blood who preceded me, 
Tliat my conduct all throughout my purposes 
Where characterized and governed only by 
No other view than that of the liberation 
What'er subse.iuent mode of procedure I'd have gone into 
Of my fellow-Irishmen, from the sucking of 
The neighborhood leech. And 1 am confidant 
Of that enactment spite of all subverters; 
I wish my memory as well as the name 
Of Robert Emmet may animate my followers 
While I look down complacently upon 
I'he immolation of that nefarious overrule 
Which upholds dominions by the Most high's apostacy 



—59— 

Wliich displays it brutal and its animal snatch 

O'er fellow-being as o'er forest-beast. 

Sets brother against brother, uplifts his arm 

In the Divine's name against his fellow's gullet 

Who believes or doubts a little more or less 

Than the government standard itself, a government 

Steeled to barbarity, iron to the wail 

Of asylum deathcries, of almshouse window-tears 

Of violated females, of wives raped ! 

XoRuuRV, Oh shame I Oh silenee I Your improvident talk 
If they inspire us at all inspire us 
With an inspiration that inspires disgust 
Empson are you making us liveries? 
You shant continue in this court this sample. 
' - - Pag no pretence like Warbeck ? Your behaviour 
In a court of law is insolent in the extremest, 
Respectless of the dignity of the judiciary 
A aiscrace to jurists who've sat and propounded 
The law of crime. Oh shame yourself adown 
Your very interior. 

E.MMKT. Oh yet I've always 

To be a judge's mission understood it 
When to conviction brought a criminal was 
To speak with feeling of humanity 
To sympathize with him to plead with him 
And in his plight bear nominal a share. 
That 't was a judge's duty so to do 
I had no doubt thereon. But where alas, 
Is all that suffrage of your institutions ? 
That philharmonic temperance that you brag of 
^ If a political prisoner whose illuck 

To fall a victim in your hands it was ? 
My lord you know that as incarnate beings 
We jointly shall appear on that great trial 
In that great court of law, in God's assizes, 
At that resplendent true and real tribunal, 
And it shall then ostensibly remain 
For yon chief magistrate to sentence those 



-60 



Clerk. 
Clrrax. 

NORBURY. 

Plunket. 

Clerk. 
Foreman. 
Curran. 
Plunket. 

Nor BURY. 

Clerk. 

Curran. 

NORBURY. 

Foreman. 
Plunket. 

NORBURY. 



Who, though they have been wrong were rightly wrong 
When they ran their country's errand. Yes, your honor. 
Who when mere babes in cribs lisp'd freedrom's name 
And in maturity each syllable cheered; 
These heaven shall judge who like the august eagle 
Supremely wafts in fhght beyond the eyre 
Built on the shoulder of some anarch crag, 
Men that for right of the land, a people's cause, 
Left firesides smouldering dismaller than hope, 
To rush to the battlefield, deliver Irishmen 
From their joint perpetrators in the patricide — 
Oppose unto their capabilities' utmost 
Defend every Irish trot of turf, and beaten 
Their veins first puncture- rather than ascend 
In penalty's name the gallows' steps, where next 
The red-attired slaughtering decapitator 
A gang of veteran, lord peers slug 'round 
And with hosannas of thanksgiving grin — 
As o'eV — the gibbet's ledge — an Irishman's — dangling — 
Froth oozing — from the lips, — blood scpiirting, — 

Gasping, — writhing, — 

(falls unconscious) 
Observe 1 the prisoner faints ! 
He drops ! he's overwhelmed. 

He staggers 1 

He sinks I 

Gavel order I 

Suspend sentence I 

Adjourn court I 
Yield up the session I 

Tend to the arraigned I 
The jury rises to leave. ♦ 

Oh embittering sight 1 
Convey him bence to Kilmainham yeomen. 

Oh hapless fellow I 

Dread coincidence ! 

It is unwarranted. I close the trial 

And for resprieves I exercise denial. 

Exeunt, Emmet 
being carried limj). 



—61— 
ACT 5. 

SCENE J. Interior of a cell in Kilviainhain prison 
furnished as for political prisoners. Doors lead- 
i?ig to Bridge of Sighs and Scaffold. 

Enter McGregor and Mc Vickar. 

McGregor. It is the end, the door ol mercy's blocked. 

Pleading this morn Lord Castlereagh I sought 
To grant to Robert Emmet a reprieve. 
He bruskly whisked me by nor would comply 
So meagre my entreaty influenced him. 

McViCKAR. I thought it would be so, I thought so Mac, 
Entirely e'ervehement has been 
Bob's vindication on the trial's occasion, 
Inspired to bid triumphant a farewell 
Exhibit the patriot in the convict's features, 
He bared the bosom ol his country's theme 
And struck an angry chord that did reverberate. 

McGregor. Emmet was fury itself personified. 

Were he but sedate were but ration al^ 

A reprieve might have stayed the hangman's nooze; — 

But as it is the end is imminent 

And we remain the sad reviewers of 

The edition of his martyring that's to follow. 

McViCKAR, Yes we can hope no more for Robert Emmet. 
All hope for Robert Emmet now's complete, 
God's will it is his life on earth be done. 
His parents (Oh well for them they're deceased) 
The foundering of their son they shall not witness 
Who save for that at least might have been spared 
The event that thus has wrecked themselves and him. 

McGregor. Too fast the close, too soon the drop. For see 
Where hithter grandeur's barge dissail'd. 
Across departure's dreary frith drifts past 
For a last view upon leavetaking's shore 
Wherefrom ochone ! no pilot can steer past.- 



—62 — 

jMcVickar. Let me suggest we go to Emmet's cell 

And with our tears astreaming bid farewell. 

(Exeunt) 
Enter Major Sandys and Severs and soldiers 
leading O'Sheil and 0'' Sullivan cuffed- 

Skvers. Prisoners of Kilmainham hear the warrant 

Verbatim read to you from the commissioner! 

Sandys. (reads) -'The people of the United Kingdom of 

To the Gommissioner of Kilmainham, greeting: — 

Whereas at a court of Special Assizes 

In Country Louth Dublin the second judicial 

District, in the year Ano Domini 

One thousand Eight Hundred and three, the sixteenth 

Of Augus: before John Toler Lord Norbury 

Of the said country and city, court and district, 

(iilhuly O'Sheil and Herlihy O'Sullivan 

Were by due and full trial for state's treason 

Tried and found guilty. And whereas — 
O'Sheil. That whereas 

Is a popp'd scarecrow, doesn't startle me any. 
Sandys. On the sixteenth day of the said month August 

One Thousand Eight Hundred and Three, a day 

To expiate the penalty of the crime 

Prescribed by the laws of the Crown, And therefore, — 
O'Sullivan. And therefore the lasoo round the gullet. Alright 

C^et her tied. warden 

Sandys. To the junior commissioner 

The aforementioned be given in person, allowing 
Access to none with a court's enjoinal, only 
Excepting family members, physician, minister — 

O'Sheil. You may switch your minister. 

O'Sullivan. Shove him in a chapel. 

Sandys. While the attendants and the Junior 

Commissioner of said prison shall be witness 
Of the infliction and the execution 
Of sentence duly pronounced by Chief Justice 
John Toler Lord Norbury , hereunto 
Signature affixed, this sixteenth day of August 
The Year One Thousand Eighteen Hundred and Three 

(folds the ivarrant.) 



—63 — 

J[Severs. They act derisive. 

Sandys. What do we give a — 

Severs. For a circus us they deem, 
i Sandys. Give' em arena 

Let'em skip the rope, with the other rope they'll not skip. 
Attention ! prisoners of the crown ! 
ISevers. P'ace about ! 

Sandys. I've read the warrant to you and apprized 

The warranty's charge. Resign between you both 
Whatever ties addict you to one other 
Interlade and compact it atike with God. 
The prison chaplain promised absolution 
And will be at the scaffotd. — 
Major I do consign to you the prisoners 
Precede them with the soldiers to the site. 
Severs. Hand me that warrant. 

I will with just precaution act the van. 
Fellows be marshall'd and proceed we then, 
March up the scaffold like unflinching men. 
O'Sheil. Unmurdered Nighty -Fighters, avenge us murdered-being 
Severs. Here, here, these sentiments — 
O'SULLIVAN. Bully for O'Sheil ! 

Light freemen's brand and singe to ashes the cruel, — 
That's the pitch ! 
Severs. I give ye caution — 

O'Sheil. Erin ! bestir thee ! 

Unlatch thy shutters, liberty is dawning. 
Jump out of bed, the morning sun is out ! 
Sandys. Severs, get on the road. 

Sev^ers. Soldiers get'em a-hustling. 

Maunch as ye choose, thwart us as you please 
'Tis at the top o' th'mound the king's at ease. 

Exeunt. 
Enter the Earl of Hardwiche, Bartley 
and soldiers v^hering in Redmond and Russel 
cuffed. 
Iardwicke. Prisoners ! In this apartment assume 

The residue of time, two soldiers abiding 
The death-watch till relieved, along with you, 



—64— 

The rest have with me for direction, myself 
Will fellow straight after the disposition 

Of warrant and of yeomen. 
Bartley. So said so done. 

Redm. Earl Hardwicke you'll allow us I confide 

At least a few lines to address our relatives. 
Hardwicke. No pen no ink sir, I've no such accommodables. 
Redm. Just a note, a couple remarks, 
Hardwicke. I regret. 

The present prison code diswarrants it. 
RUSSEL. Take sorrow for pen and tears for ink Redmond. 
Redmond. What, no correspondence ? 
Hardwicke. Never a missive man, 

Kilmainham leaves but through the I.ord-lieutenant 

The prerogative. This is no suspect office 

Besides I've order to that effect. 
RussEL. Earl Hardwicke 

Once in a while men give over a weakness 

By signs to another, raise the flag of distress. 

I'm no exception. Since yesterday across 

My lips no nourishment gave evidence. 

For a bit of refreshMent fetbly I grope 

Along the wall of appeal and charge it to you. 

I take decision from the table of 

Human kind for kind to evoke fraternity 
. For the common crust, all delicacies being 

Good out of the Assizes. — 
Hardwicke. Must perforce announce 

Am sorry I may not acommodate you. 
Russel. Might you let me have a scoope of water then ? 
Hardwicke. The bydrant's plugg'd. 
Bartley. Oh no it isn't ! 

Hardwicke. Forsake 

The presence of the corridor at once 

Intermeddling jackanapes. Get a remo\'al. 
Bartley. Sure there's no harm handing a man some water [Exit. 
Russel. That's manhood. What shall I ask thee Erin ? 

From thy scooped-in eyesockets trickle together 



—65— 

Moisture for my broiled throat. Earl Hard\vicl<e 

Were I unhandcuft'd, I'd— well let 't be. 
Hardwicke. Do you no intimating I've here option. 
1^-EDMOND. That's the home-rule of his here. 
Hardwicke. Now, now, no backbite 

From either of you in the pann'd retort 

From roasting scalaways I'll stand for. (Exit.) 

Redmonr. He's got 

His host spiked solid, therefore the hyssop 

For me, and for you Russel the bile. 
RusSEL. What 

A shift of scene has come across our careers, 

Oh what a terrificly terrible transmutation ? 
Redm. Dont Russel, dont be staggered, take it heroic. 

Before you stoop take up the burden as a stoic. 
RussEL. A goblet of hemlock my life to me was, — 
Redmond. An arena of hyenas my life tome — 
RussEL. But I'll gulp it. 
Redmond. I'll beneath the paw 

O'Neill-like. I'll emulate it socratic 

In the tipping the cap, 
Russel. And my understratifyiiig 

Of Vesuvius-type I'll show. 
Redmond. Cheer up then ! 

Russel. Oh 

The gallowing part of it, otherwise 

An armistice to flesh-rending my oath on 't. 
Redmond Spunk 

For all of that, we'll have no pallbearers. 

Only woifs are scared. Then let me say our love 

During life exceeded the fear of death, not death itself. 
Russel. It shall be said; put a bushel on that. With scaring 

We were indifferent. 
Redmond. And no being despair 'd either. 

Russel. That's 

Been given the Catacomb, We will not see each other. 
Redmond. In another world evermore, in this nevermore. 
Russel. We'll fall in line here but fall out of line out of here. 



—66— 



For better to fall in line then the line fall in 

Our demise must nor Irishman grieve, we schould 

With our moral and ethic aim inspire 

Even English antipathy. For these politically 

Condemned that would the rifle give calisthenics 

'Round Kilmainham and Portsmounth, the slate's furnace 

Transcasting out of iniquity's adulation 

The English visiting commission enthuse 

That they may view the life-confined who blazed 

With riot, now as from a penny-a-liner 

Submissive penury of lot perceive. 

Mind that ! 

Redmond. An armistice to Jeremy. Meseems 

This is the final clockstroke to chuck work off 
To speak what's in us out of the love of us. 
I hope you are convinced that you die Russel 
For a right cause. 

There never was a correcter. 
Christ died for the love of man do we do less. 
By dying for the love of land ? (Oh heaviest 
Of all hours this!) 

I'm confident that Irishmen 
All over the world their condolence express, 
God bless them ! Ireland how we suff"er for thee ! 
Oh Russel you go first and I go after. 
I'd rather I'd go first 

What's the diversity ? 
If we together or we separate go? 
If we die separate we'll be dead together, 
If we together die, we'll be dead separate. 
I am prepared. Forever is the measure 
Of all things reckoned by the absence of them. 
Let me unburden me, — I'll flop her off", — 
It dropping stuns and tangles me in the mesh! 

Redmond. Well Russel 't will be over soon. 

RussEE. Pretty soon. 

Redmond, Between the "twill be over" and *''t is over" 
What a bridge of sighs ! 



Russel. 



Redmond. 

Russel. 
Redmond. 

Russel. 



—67- 



RUSSEL. 

Redmond. 

RUSSEL. 

Redmond. 

RUSSEL. 

Redmond. 



RUSSEL. 
REDxMOND. 

RuSSEL. 



Redmond. 



Russel. 

Redmond, 

Russel. 

Redmond, 



An uno'erpassabble! 
Anyway manhood. Dont lose your head though , 

That's 
A grim pun, we'll lose our heads sure enough. 
Put up a firm left at the right step. 

What 
Can we but that ? 

We can no more than that. 
'Tis destined by the supreme powers of fate 
That, the rake off, the toiler from the lea 
Must to his homestead sooner or later. 
The mounting up to the — that's the hottest. 
Once mounted no dismounting 

Have n't 
Our relative found some sort of an orifice 
To squeeze us through. 

All exit's been plugg'd. 
No artifice avails, for the commissioner 
Are unimportuneably unflexible. 

Then 
Embrace Redmynd, for we are to die ! 
Embrace, embrace Russel for the the final ! 
Good-bye ! 

Good-bye ! though in God's Erin 
We part never to meet this makes us sore. 
In God's you Erin we'll meet to part ne'ermore ! 
Enter Hangman and soldiers 
roho seize Redmond and Russel and 
lead them off. Exeunt. 



SCENE 2. Before the Iron Gate of Robert Enwief s 
cell. Behi7id the bars Emmet discovered. 

Enter McVickar and McGregor before 
the grating followed oy Bartley 
loith keye. 
Bartley. The Lord -lieutenant by virtue of petitions, — 

Donates to Robert Emmet freedom, so — 

His relatives may interview with him 

Till now. 



-6S — 



McVrCKAR. Thanks corporal, 

McGregor. God's bounty on thee, 

Bartley. Opened 

The gate I have, make good the opportunity 

With prisoner Emmet. Exit. 

Enter Emmet from the cell. 
McVicar. Oh nephew, nephew 

To what we're witness ! 
McGregor, Woe the day of that year 

It ever came round! 
McVickar. We came to say good. bye 

But we cannot say it. 
Emmet. Let it remain unsaid. 

This show of fellow-feeling from niy relatives 

In the bleak season of inveterate grief 

Is like the orange, -colored dawn o'morning 

That after charcoal chacoal night profusely glows, — 

It is of love the imperial tributary. 

It is the kindling of immortal sympathy 

That burns in lamps of associateship, 
McGregor. Dear nephew, 

In our heart's dormitory found anxiety 

An ingress ever since we knew you. — How 

The eyes of our eyes in deluge wallow'd regards you 

During and at the trial. — How do you find yourself? 
Emmet. I find myself as I left myself. 

McVicker. With what feeling ? 

Emmet. Quite comfortable. 

McGregor. Are you placid at soul ? 

Emmet. Why should I not be? 

I've broke no panes, hurt no one. What's news ? 
McVickar, Everything 's as usual. 
Emmet. I'm glad. Tell me McVickar 

Have O'Sheill and O'Sullivan gone my road? 

Has Russel and has Redmond gone my way ? 
McVickar, Alas that bleak direction they have taken 

Teey wished you well even then. 
McGregor. Oh they prayed ever 



—69— 



Emmet. 

Mc\'ickar. 

McGregor. 

Emmet. 

McGregor 

Emmet. 

McCiregor. 

Emmet. 

Mc( ireiror. 



Emmet. 



McGregor. 
Emmet. 



For the weal of their survivors, themselves scantily. 

Apparently apparently.— How's my mother? 

(aside) Inform him not of her. 

(aside) i see not how. 

Is she still ill ? 
. (aside) How can I answer him ? 

Will you not tell me? 

(aside) I know Robert, you 

Would like to see your mother. 

Oh what not, 

What not, would I donate to see her! 

Then 

In short, you'll see her this same day. Alas 

Up to her chest immersed in cares and worries 
Calmly she stretched her arms out to the Rock. 

Almost with the last of breath, she faintly asked 

"I want to see my Bobby, I want to see my Bobby". 

"The wish of her cherish'd dream, her Bobby-a-R( on". 
Peace to her on God's soil, she had scant hehnv. 

And I a man— Oh it just cut slices off me. 

'Tis seldom that I weep, but these circumstance 

Pinn'd me for good. We buried her at St. Kevin, 

The nearest and farthest attending. I held it fitting 

.Since you evoked it out, you knew of it 

Before you too get off this station. And so— 

I see you burry the face in the kerchief— come,— 

Brace up lad, bear it over and forget not 

That death's a hush to those whose life has been 

A hallobaloo. Trouble no more her spirit 

She's exempt from that. Once the river across 

The oars lag idle. — 

Why 't is a winsome epic 
Might not one gifted with the pen a theme 
With overskimming sympathy evoke 
The frenzy of pity, dont you think he might ? 
Alas, what shall I say but that he might ? 
Oh two-fold rip ! Oh duplicate affliction ! 
Why am I as young and suffer so ? 



70— 



McGregor. 
Emmet. 
McCiregor 
Emmet. 



Emmet. Oh God have mercy on me. My poor motlier ! 
McGregor. Dont Bob, dont now — 

McVickar. Be a good chap Robert. 

McGregor. It cant be remedied. 
McVickar. Be assuaged. 

^McGregor. Tush, tush, 

Emmet. Mother of son plucked, the son of that mother 
Under the same chipper, both voyageward. 
God's laws will her's, man's laws will mine. 
Uncle McGregor and uncle McVickar — 
Allude to her no more, for I trust 
That I and mother will each other meet 
Ere to-night's sun sets. — But hark ! whose pleading 

{noise within) voices ? 
Where hear you voices? 

Is it not the King's Dragons ? 
I devine the negativ'e. {McVicar criesloud. 

McVickar there 
Buried in the sod of tears and for my sake ? 
Whatever's the matter? you're indisposed I perceive. 
Trust me uncle I've much concern for you 
It will your veteran disposition sacrifice 
If you exceed in that, the which in arrears 
This fellow-feeling hoze will not thus irrigate 
Nor as suffusive. 

Oh but to lose you thus 
In much the same way as the flesh is tut 
Remorselessly slashes. 

Lop that with tolerance gloss. 
The world is quite poignant at demonstrance 
Which the non-partizan concern. It is 
Humane alone from the eye's campaign to donate 
A fallen candidate, no more than 't were 
An eye of lumber it, would plane off splinters 
Of shaveling. — Spruce me for such a graft 
We would have darnel, as make it o'ersudden 
Even for a haruspex. 
McVickar. A lasting lasting good-bye. 



Mc\'ickar. 



Emmet. 



—71— 

My nephew Emmet. Break hearth but its tough ! 
Emmet. Oh McVickar, McVickar ! 

McVickar. Oh Emmet, Emmet ! 

McGregor. Imagine me thy father I say good-bye my son. 
Emmet. One glance, — one clasp, — 

McGregor. Christ Jesus stand you by ! 

Emmet. Forget, — forgive, — 

McVickar. Oh can we, can we everl 

Emmet. Kind uncles — 
McGregor. I cannyt see the door anymore 

The tears they blind me. 
McVickar. We'll keep you in memory. 

Emmet. At the scaffold boys. 
McGregor. Ne'er worry, we'll be there 

In St. Thomas Street. — 
McVickar. Expect us. 

Emmet These voices again. 

noice ivithin. 
McGregor. It sounds at it were a young woman's in entreaty. 
Sarah, (within) It is he, it is he, Oh let me pass ! 
Emmet. P'amiliar outcry ! 
Sandys, [within] Debar her ! 

Severs, [within] Stop her! 

Emmet. Christ-resurrect ! 

Staircase of my endurance collapse not. 
Oh dilapidated stairlanding of my endless 
Ceaseless affliction hold me that while till I 
Endure Sarah's stepping-up to me and I 
The stepping down. 
McGregor, [aside] 'Tis Sarah ! — 
McVickar. [aside] Curran's daughter ! 

Sarah. [within] Officers ! 

Oh let me pass Oh let me only pass ! 

Enter Sarah Curran flying from 
Majors Sandys and Sevens. Hardwicke and 
prison-officers and sister-of -charity following. 
Emmet, [aside] The final lines of my life's soliloquy 

Here first begins. 
McVickar. [to Sarah] Sarah Curran be resigned 



—72— 

It is God's own decree. 
McGregor, [to Sandys] Unto what purpose 

Was she admitted ? 
Sandys, [to McGregor] The appeals of her effeminating 

So I the earl permitting, entrance let. 
Severs. [aside] I wish I was away I'd like to avoid it. 

Hardwicke. Majors, hither to the corridor and consult me. 
Mc\'ickar. In features stained from dusty tearfalls, see 

She now approaches him, as aside shrugs he. 

Oh unripe quantity o'erripe of quality 

Witness it Mac, witness it. (all draiv to the back ground. 

Sarah. This then's the condition Sarah finds her Robert ? 

( )h her misfortune, Oh her disappointment ! 

She sees it all, she sees it sees it all. 

Love's battle's o'er, slaughtered lie the memories 

That of infatuation's strife partook. 
^ Despair, his guidon hoists and o'er the frontier 

Where expectation had rigged up his tenting 

Disappointment taps his bivouac on the massacred. 
McVickar. [aside] Her tears garrot him ! 
McGregor. Visibly. 

Sarah. Yes Robert 

Night-time her awning lowers. Adieu, adieu. 

Accept that hand that thought you truer far 

Than ever lass thought lad. But Oh false trust. 

Amalgam thy bust was, alloy thy crest. 

Who would have thovight, who could have, should have 

though 

That this should be the end of us and here! 
McVickar. [aside] Her tears their liquid chests burst. 
McGregor, [aside] In Robert 

Their flood induntate him, 
McVickar. [aside] In both a tearful 

Destillery has opened. 
Sarah. Had I anticipated 

What aggravation befell you seriously 

I'd have unhesitatingly exerted 

Influence the utmost as might your incumbency 



—73— , 

Relief afforded. But you had, as it were 
Drawn secret's curtain deftly o'er all 
And ne'er to me unbosomed the circumstances 
The which had you divulged but opportune 
I would have met you at Rathfarnham Road 
As you appointed had in correspondence, 
Where, interviewed I'd left with you for Ame 
Long since. Ay had this been as we hoped 
We might have never seen this hapless instance, 
Our hopeful seconds were part of that minute still 
As our hours of love vk ere part of that day 
And were these days but destined to be years 
This hour this day descried us had united. 

McVickar. (aside) His chest she splinters. 

McGregor, (aside) Into bits fractures. 

Sarah. We would have been wedded long long 

I'd have furnished me a bridal veil of azure 
A nuptial grown of buff your favorite piguient 
And arm in arm to the porochial 
We sauntered had together. By this time 
The knot had long been tied. For Oh you know 
How I have fasted., hungered to marry you, 
Alas the change ! I wish my sight a cataract 
I might be spared to view the alteration. 
The hangman the pastor's chasuble 

The scaffold's wooding has the altar's matting 
In lieu of wedding chimes death's sexton tolls 
The burial curfew with murder-stirring clang I 

Emmet. Darling ! darling I 

McGregor, (aside) He speaks to her at last ? 

Emmet. My own ! — 

My little daisy trampled underfoot 
By me, me, me, me ! 

Sarah. Sarah cant carry it through, 

Sarah cant; let her perish on that bosom's pillow 
Where her hopes fell a-dozing, [foils in EnimeVs arms 

Sandys (aside) Piteous 

Severs. (aside) The tear-price's high. 



—74- 

Sandys, (aside^ For the heart's mart to bid. 

Hardwicke (aside) Thus 

With all of Ireland's juvenile revolutionists 
The common scene. 

McXickar. (to McGregor) In vain unfortunate Emmet 

Attemps to soothe her, she is tight about him. 

From out the quay ot their affectionate waters 

That launched with gay streamers, the barge's stranded 

And the billows beat the corses on fate's reef. 

How many times do we conceive our future 

Full of elution and successes rosy 

When of a sudden the horizon beclouds 

Our rainbow expectations. 

McGregor, [to McVickar) Truest often. 

How fitting for the isle of sorrow are 
The disappointed girls and boys. Their tears 
Enough to raise the tide of St. Georges, — 
Adown their countenance at random drip. 
Misfortune's punctvial there, for of that exercise 
Robert and Sarah have their plentitude. 

McVickar. (to McGregor) Oh dreary truth whatever the motive of itJ 
Nay to whose fault the cause of disappointment 
Imputed might be, it must be looked into 
As well as round about. Both of them have 
To that exertion their indulgence strained 
Unconscious of the brambles in the hedge 
Whereon the sweat o' the heart a surplus countered 
That it hath snapped abrupthy off amidst them 
And left them contused and lacerate. 

Emmet. Disappointed 

Have I thee, made you browse on wildmoss 
Made the air-brake screech unbecoming, 
All all my fault, forsake me, cashier me 
As a worthless culprit. 

Sarah. Oh my Bobby mine 

I thought you love'd Sarah. 

Emmet. Witness God Almighty 

With what a dying hope I loved. Unfortunate 



-75— 



Of all v/ere we. There's that lock of thy hair 
Thou gavest me for keepsakes. Loved thee ? Thee 
Sarah I loved as I did my motherearth. 
A scaflbld's donored me for loving Ireland 
And a scaffold thy devotion. Fatality 
Impending for the likes of ours 'Tis bitterest 
As when I gaze in those blue waters thine 
Ant note therein the wreckage, galling 'tis. 

Sarah. Forever will I pine as Pythias 

IJewailed her Damon. I loved thee too intimately 

To let thee off indifferently. So let 

The grave but give thee the tumulus and slab 

I'll dig Into the ground I warrant thee 

Wed thee on the scaffold sleep with thee in (iod's Acre 

Till I rehabitate thee. For it was 

And I have ever trembled to arow it, 

In secrecy I had oonceived of thee. 

Calling on me you told me that you loved me 

I cared not then for I was young I trifled 

But you persisted then at last for love's sake 

I encouraged you and then I felt instintively 

An unspeakable desire to tell thee Bobby 

That I cared for thee. Ay such has been my training. 

Oh what a hard training it has been for me 

With hand -wrings and heart-strings up to rupturing! 

Emmet. Oh what excuse Oh what apology 
Can I before you offer but that I 
Mean the extremest. Alas ! you were a vestal 
In thy devotion for afifeetion, I scarcely 
Had half revealed how fain I idolized you. 
It was not with an instant's rapid impulse 
But 't was the faithful ebb of deep desire 
That surged past hazard's cape whose pending menace 
Meant to affinity's current reefy navigating 
But which my arm of trust did pilot past. 
Merit you know I sought not, for myself 
Praise would I have from lips of fawners hissed 
And Oh and Oh could I have pluck'd by the gullet 



—76— 

The minute from the hour to testify 
To only the rectitude, your husband was 
Respected by the world the rather than 
Being executed a convict. Ever dear Sarah 
There have been moments in my brief immurement 
When wedged in groan regards you that I oft 
Wished I was welled-in inartesiand'd depths 
Rather than you survive love-disappointed 
Hope-insulted. But thou shallt rally yet 
My devotee, rally and with the carmine streak 
That tinctures the wan moonlight of thy devotion 
Look sadly at Bob's hearse. I am obliged 
To let you off immediately for I am 
Enroute toward another clime, my luggage 
And equipage awaiting me. But yet ere 
I disembrace, dont weep child and dont cry — 
A once more of a never again I Good-bye, — good-bye I 
tears himself away from Sarah 
she after, and attendants rush 
, bettveen. 

Sarah. So soon, so soon ! 

Hard wick e. Have her to a waiting room 

Led off and into. 

Sandys. Good lady our office 

Bids us we escort you — 

Sarah. ' I wont, I wont go ! 

Severs. Persuade her major. 

Sandys. Mark, but she resists. 

Severs. From the attendants and the sisters-of-merry 
And ourselves, in Earl Hardwicke's name, 
We do entreat it — 

Sarah. Tear me not 

From Bobby- a-Roon, tear me not from Bobby ! 

Hardwicke. Form a procession through the cell-gate out! 
Enter a Hangman. 
And up St. Thomas Street. — Majors remain 
In attendance to arah Curran. 

Sarah. Give me 



1 i- 



McVickar. 
McGregor, 
Sarah. 



Sarah. 



Sandys. 
Severs. 
Sarah. 



Sandys. 
Severs. 
Sarah. 



Back Robert Emmet, give me back my Emmet — 
Her Robert hers ! 

His Sarah his 

My ! my I 
The attendents form a group with 
Emmet in the middle, McVickar and McGregor 
by his side and as the cell-gate opens 
they pass out. Gates sloivly shutting, 
{struggling with the majors) 

Hands, bite your fingers, hairs tear your stems root out. 
You sudden pallbearers aside from the front of me! 
Leave me join him whose I was and am, I'll vouch 
My featly though the consequence. 

they release her. 
Keep vigil at the gate. 

One end you the other I. 
Combined up to the scaffold we'll ascend. 
I care not to live alone for any zeal. 
Smilex and hazel and holly, what are ye 
Good for, whom gnaws the vermin? Shorn of 
The estate of promise fall on thy knees tenure 
Wallow in the plea of a foreclosure leap off 
The paropet uninvestiture, exchange 
The alder for the myrtle, Hold aloof 
The shutting of the gate. 111 hang on that, 
As 't were a crossbeam I will hang on that, 
I, the immured caved -in mashed-on Sarah, — 
(A slit on the pulley, ( derrick him on Calvary, — 
His Magdalen will cling till the vail rend. 

tries to pass the gate, the majors intercept. 
Severs relax on no account. 

Get away lass. 
Remorseless, merciless, ruthless, return 
My Bobby-a-Roon my pawned-off pledge. About 
The lone crossroads of my love-ffliction 
Heartcracks perambulate across. Surrender 
Upon condition that I'm quartered with him, 
Him, my elect and my cherished. For what cause 
Skirmish ye and jam my heart'siksh ? Undraw there 



78- 



That bolt iir, ungate it by a haul. I'll try 
Whetlier I'll be able to master that much iron. 

wrangles with the majors, ivho 
tears themselves aivay and slij} back 
of the gate. Exeunt. Cries of men 
and women loithout. 
Sarah. That stunning roar ! from St. Thomas Street emanating. 

Awful God Almighty spare my endeared. 
What millstone's that rolling ? let me toward 
For the one and final time or I crash myself 
The wall against, the floor through! I'll rave — 
I'll bite, I'll tear, I'll rip, I'll maim, I'll— 
I'll wail, I'll wallow, I'll growl, I'll schreech, I'll— 
Och Bobby, Bobby, Bobby ! Och ! Och ! Och ! Och ! 
{falls prostrate in the middle of stage). 
A pause. Cries without. The gates re-open axid 
Enter the Hangman ivith the head of Robert Emm 
a concourse of people following in back. 
Hangman, (shouting) 

That's the head of Robert Emmet! A rioter 
According to the English of England, to 
The Irish of Ireland a hero accordingly ! 

(Gates close). 



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